CAPS dream of Mr Goals

to the attacking values of the Class of ’96 that turned them into kings – ensured there was more to the Castle Lager Premiership opening weekend headlines than just the Glamour Boys.
In the countdown to the first branded domestic football championship in three years, all the plots and sub-plots in the capital had swirled around the Glamour Boys’ house after Dynamos swept all before them in pre-season matches and, when it mattered most, turned on the style in the Champions League.
The arrival of a new coach, with a commitment to playing stylish football, and the fusion of a host of players who appeared ready to play the game to the rhythm of their gaffer, and a number of promising pre-season results, brought all the focus on Dynamos.
And when DeMbare rolled back the years, with a show pregnant with both style and substance in an impressive 4-1 win over MC Alger in the Champions League – just a week before the start of the domestic Premiership – the Glamour Boys predictably dominated the build-up to the domestic campaign.
As it turned out, Dynamos failed to find their magic, as they limped to a 0-1 defeat against Kiglon at Rufaro, but bitter rivals CAPS United ensured parts of the capital would still be talking about the refreshment that comes with attacking football after a good start on Saturday.
Records will show that they beat Zimbabwe Saints 5-3 and critics will point out that Chauya Chikwata, marking their return to the Premiership after a lengthy stay in the wilderness, always looked like sitting ducks ready for slaughter at Rufaro.
But a quick glance on the side Saints fielded on Saturday showed a squad rich in experience with Bevan Chikaka, Voster Chitema, Munyaradzi Diya, Gift Phiri, Phillip Sithole, Tafadzwa Maingire and Danisa Phiri all taking their places in Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo’s team.
One harsh critic apparently described them as a group of mercenaries.
An open game, on a beautiful afternoon in the capital, charmed all who were privileged to be witnesses as CAPS United and Saints traded blows and, by the end of an incredible first half, still remained at par after half-a-dozen goals had been scored.
The Green Machine took a 2-0 lead but somehow Saints found the heart to fight back, scoring some memorable goals along the way, with Chitema, who won the league championship with Monomotapa, firing home a beauty to make it 3-2.
Hardly a minute later CAPS United were level, teenage striker Simba Sithole scoring the best of his three goals, after a lovely touch and cool finish with a left foot that promises so much for his team and certain terror for defences throughout the Premiership.
As the teams left the field at the interval, with the scoreboard reading 3-3, the neutrals were loving it.
And Moses Chunga, having been betrayed by his reshuffled central defensive pairing that never clicked, rung the changes and brought in Douglas Walaza on the right and moved Nyasha Mukumbi to his traditional role in the centre.
With their defensive lines now in solid state, CAPS United went about their business with a touch of class in the second half and were rewarded with goals by Sithole, showing his predatory instincts to time to his run to perfection and connect, first time, a ball swung across the defence, and Pride Tafirenyika.
Tafirenyika might have scored the best of the Green Machine lot, striking with deadly accuracy from the edge of the area after a fine sweeping team move that deserved a good ending, but the attacking midfielder was clearly not at his best and better days lie ahead.
Sithole, the former Pamushana High School student, arrived at CAPS United during the close season with a reputation as one of the best of the crop of rising gunslingers in the country and, after a performance rich in quality and a hattrick to spice it all, he justified the great expectations that follow him.
He didn’t appear to be playing at full throttle, which is understandable as he begins his journey at a big team, and now and again you got the impression that he was being cautious and putting a lot of emphasis on trying not to make mistakes.
But, when he needed to, he showed us that blinding raw pace a team needs in a centre forward, the aggression that all strikers need for a success story, a good working relationship with his fellow forwards and, boy oh boy, the ability to finish it all with a quality of a very high order.
CAPS United fans didn’t sing a song for their new hero on Saturday, which probably explains how they must have been surprised, too, by his sudden impact but, after his good day at the office, he can be guaranteed that there will be more songs about him coming from the Northern Stand.
The Green Machine has struggled for a reliable goal-scorer since trading Nyasha Mushekwi to Mamelodi Sundowns in Super Diski.
Sithole certainly doesn’t have the physical presence of Mushekwi but, after the way he harassed the Saints defenders and completed his hattrick on Saturday, there is substance in claims coming from some CAPS United fans that they might just have found their Mr Goals.
Evans Gwekwerere played the entire 90 minutes and, incredibly, in the five-goal harvest, he wasn’t on target.
But that will not take away the fact that this was one of Gwekwerere’s best performance in a long time, playing the leadership role in attack with aplomb, and, crucially, playing for the team and not for himself.
His movement was good, and his running off the ball meant spaces opened for Sithole to get his goals, while he appeared at peace with himself, playing the game at his tempo, he certainly should have been rewarded with a goal for his industry.
Which would have come had Tafirenyika not committed the sin of pushing a ball struck by Gwekwerere, which was going in, over the line when he was coming from an off-side position.
Deservedly, Gwekwerere got a standing ovation from the CAPS United fans after the match.
Chunga has issues to sort out with his defence and his midfield will have to play better but, even on day one when it’s usually difficult, if not impossible, to put together a very good show, his team refreshingly tried to remain committed to the values of attacking football.
If there is an irritation in this Green Machine camp, then it is the frosty relationship between Chunga and a hardcore section of the team’s fans who will forgo the chance to win Lotto to join a protest march to force the coach out of the team.
On Saturday we saw glimpses of that uneasy relationship when Saints battled from 0-2 down to take the lead.
But to his credit Bambo remained concentrated on his mission, to try and win the game, and that he eventually succeeded was because he didn’t allow himself to be distracted by the ugliness of terrace politics.
There will be tougher tests for the Green Machine than Saints but if Chunga and his men remain committed to the values of attacking football, and Saturday was the beginning and not the end of a process, then their goals will win them many tight battles.
Alois Bunjira, a star of the Class of ’96, was watching from the stands on Saturday.
After the game he said there were parts of CAPS United’s performance that day which brought back memories about Steve Kwashi and his Class of ’96 that conquered all.