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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
CAPS United coach Taurai Mangwiro was still livid yesterday after the Premiership giants sunk to new depths when they plunged to the heaviest defeat of their 41-year history following a 6-0 humiliation by FC Platinum in a ZNA Commander’s Charities Shield final at Mandava. It might have been a Charity Cup match but Mangwiro acknowledged that statistics would always show that it was CAPS United’s biggest defeat in the history of the club and that he was the coach in charge.
That result left Mangwiro a bitterly disappointed man as he reflected on the events at Mandava where the CAPS United coach singled out match-day referee Rugare Kusosa for much of the blame and accused him of “spoiling the day for everyone’’.
The humiliating defeat also completed a tumultuous week for CAPS United who almost failed to fulfil their league match against Bantu Rovers at Hartsfield last Thursday, with the team only leaving Harare for Bulawayo very late into the night.
That game then ended 0-0 with the Green Machine dropping two vital points that could have seen them ease into second place and two points behind leaders Dynamos and pile pressure on their rivals in the championship race.
Given that results involving Highlanders and ZPC Kariba had gone in their favour, CAPS United were left to rue two points dropped than celebrate a point gained against lowly Bantu Rovers.
But it was the humiliating defeat by FC Platinum that left the CAPS United family shell-shocked notwithstanding the fact that they finished the game with eight men after three of their players were shown the red card by Kusosa.
Ironically, CAPS United had sent a bold signal about their intentions of winning the ZNA Cup and the manner in which they celebrated their triumph over bitter rivals Dynamos in the semi-final — the only time they have beaten DeMbare since 2009 — told a story of a side that was eyeing the silverware.
Mangwiro had also spoken about the seriousness with which they were treating the final and said they had targeted the game as the first step of a long journey to try and restore their pride and their “Cup Kings’’ status.
All that went up in smoke as FC Platinum piled a half a dozen goals past goalkeeper Joram Muchambo with the result leaving questions on whether the financial crunch that had threatened to scupper their game against Bantu Rovers had manifested itself again at Mandava.
The side that CAPS United sent into battle against FC Platinum was by no means a weaker outfit given that regular players such as skipper Tapiwa Khumbuyani, Stephen Makatuka, Gerald Phiri, Ishmael Thindwa, Dominic Chungwa, Muchambo and the pair of Hardlife Zvirekwi and Tendai Samanja who came on as second-half substitutes have featured regularly this season.
Khumbuyani will also go down in the club history as the captain who presided over CAPS United’s worst defeat and so will be the bunch of players who took to the field whom Makepekepe fans will hold accountable for shaming the green jersey.
CAPS United president Twine Phiri will probably on reflection also acknowledge that any 6-0 defeat coming on the back of administrative problems at a club as big as his side is as humiliating as it is damaging to a football brand.
Phiri, who said he had been away in Botswana when problems resurfaced, made a veiled attack on the club’s management for the problems that rocked their ship ahead of the trip to Bantu Rovers and appeared to blame them for failing to manage the situation and “use a PSL bailout facility to secure funds for the trip on time’’.
While acknowledging that the in-house problems that rocked their camp ahead of the Bantu Rovers game were still to be resolved, Mangwiro refused to link that to the humiliation at Mandava arguing that FC Platinum had actually been aided by Kusosa’s controversial officiating.
“I do not want to discuss much about the refereeing and I do not want us to sound like cry babies but certainly what we saw in Zvishavane was not football and one of these days we will question whether Fair Play really exists in our local game.
“For me it is the worst defeat I have suffered as a coach and history will record that statistic. It is very disappointing. I believe FC Platinum are a good side and do not deserve the assistance of a referee to win.
“I don’t want to appear to be just defending my players, but I thought they were really focused for this game and no one is even talking of our disallowed goal on the stroke of half-time which should have made it 1-1 and maybe change the complexion of the game.
“Yes, we still have our challenges as a club and nothing has been resolved as we speak but we spoke to the players before we went to Bulawayo and we would want to believe that we will address our problems soon.
“We will also try to address our aggression as a team so that maybe we are not targeted by the match officials,’’ Mangwiro said.
CAPS United public relations manager Joyce Kapota said last night her club would this week resolve their in-house problems by paying the players what they are still owed.
“Just like any company we have our challenges and we sometimes delay in paying up but we will pay the players everything that is owed to them this week. I must say, though, that we did not lose in Zvishavane as a result of our in-house problems.
“If anything we have been getting a raw deal from the match officials and if you look at the treatment we got in Hwange and on Thursday against Bantu Rovers and apparently the same referee who handled our game against Hwange was the one who was in charge on Thursday and gave us a raw deal.
“The worst was what we saw in Zvishavane which could easily turn our football into a joke if this problem is not urgently addressed and the ZNA officials who are also still looking for more sponsors for the tournament were not happy with the officiating.
“We have written to the PSL to officially complain and we believe they will look into our complaints, but we would want to lose matches without having been frustrated by match officials and those who appoint the referees should first check if the officials would not be compromised in any way,’’ Kapota said.
But with CAPS United set to go into the hat for the Chibuku Super Cup draw tomorrow, Makepepepe simply have to first put their house in order and ensure scenes such as that of last Wednesday where players also refuse to board a bus for assignments is not a regular feature of their operations given its negative impact on their image.
Online Reporter