Online Reporter
Sports Reporter
CAPS United fans have been waiting for a major piece of silverware for a decade now.
Their last major success story came exactly ten years ago when the Green Machine won the league championship. They should have won it again three years later but a collapse, in the final two games, saw them finish third in the race.
They had a chance to win the title, with a game to spare, if they could beat Ngezi Platinum Stars at Baobab.
But, CAPS United ended on the wrong side of a five-goal thriller and lost that match 2-3.
They still had another chance to win it, this time at home, in the final game of the season, when they took on FC Platinum.
But, a nervy performance, under pressure, saw the Zvishavane side win the game 1-0 and, in the process, were crowned champions.
Seven years after that heartbreaking collapse, on the final hurdle, CAPS United are still searching for their first piece of major silverware.
Interestingly, for a club which was so good in knockout tournaments, in the first decade of Independence they were even nicknamed the ‘Cup Kings,’ the Green Machine are yet to win the Chibuku Super Cup since its return in 2014.
Now, after a routine six-goal thrashing of Division Two side Scottland Academy at Baobab on Sunday, and the fall of the other two members of the Big Three – Dynamos and Highlanders – CAPS fans are dreaming of success again.
The Green Machine are through to the Round of 16 in the US$5 million Munhumutapa Challenge Cup, the richest tournament in the history of football in this country.
The tourney offers its winners a cool US$1 million in prize money.
Malawian forward Chawananga Kaonga was the star of the show in the demolition of the Scottland developmental side as he grabbed a hat-trick.
This meant CAPS United have scored ten goals in their last two matches and this should give coach Takesure Chiragwi hope that the final months of the season will be better than the middle of the campaign.
Having started well, in the championship race, CAPS United faded badly and they don’t have a realistic chance of winning a sixth league title.
The chaos created by goalkeeper Wallace Magalane, who was pushed out of the team after a cocktail of high-profile errors, did not help their cause.
Club owner Farai Jere told the team’s fans that, despite their struggles during the middle part of the league campaign, they have to be optimistic of success in the two knockout tournaments.
Of course, critics will remind them that this was against a Division Two side who collapsed in the second half.
But, in Cup competitions, in particular, and in football, in general, you can only try and beat the side you have been tasked to face.
Had CAPS lost this one, Jere and Chiragwi know that it would have provoked a major crisis at the club.
That they won, and did so convincingly, should cheer their spirits.
That both DeMbare and Bosso lost was also a bonus.
