admin
Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
CAPS United skipper Tonderai Mateyaunga believes the players should use to their advantage the early preparations and stability at the club to make it count as they bid for a competitive campaign this season.
Last year, the Green Machine had a chaotic start in the league.
And that weak foundation, coupled with player protests along the way, summed up Makepekepe’s poor season.
The Harare giants began their pre-season training on Monday.
Although they have been quiet on the transfer market according to their standards, there appears to be a common purpose at the club.
The club has retained the bulk of the players that did duty last season.
So far CAPS United have acquired ex-DeMbare defender Godknows Murwira, former Harare City defender Innocent Zambezi and Admiral Matope, who is coming in from Whawha.
The Green Machine still wants to make three or more exceptional signings.
They have parted ways with Valentine Musarurwa, who has joined Simba Bhora. The youthful duo of Tatenda Diego Makurumidze and Tichaona Zota Macheka has also joined the newly-promoted Sheasham.
And Makepekepe goalkeeper Mateyaunga, who was appointed the leader of the pack towards the end of last season, says they should learn from their mistakes.
“This team building is for us as players, the technical team and the executive and everyone who is involved with the club for us to know our goals.
“Everybody knows what happened last season. We had a very bad season, so it’s almost like 90 percent of the squad that was there last year is here.
“So our objective is to try and make up for what we did wrong last year. We were late in starting our pre-season but this year as you can see, we are here earlier. We had this team building and setting goals for this coming season which is good for us at the club,” said Mateyaunga.
With assured support from the club leadership, the CAPS United skipper feels they will be in a good position to challenge for the league title this season.
“At a club like CAPS United, goals that are there are obviously to win the league title. So we are going to try our best and to rectify the mistakes that we did last year that is on and off the field.
“The club president (Farai Jere) has assured us to be there for us financially and support us in all that we do. He just wants us to give our best so that we retain the glory days of the club,” Mateyaunga said.
The former Dynamos goalkeeper believes that the club faced challenges like any other top-flight club but poor communication amplified their problems.
“In any institution or any organisation, there are bound to be problems at times. However, ours were not as major as they appeared to be. The only problem that we had was communication (breakdown) and the club has since rectified that, and the club and we the players have rectified that problem and I hope all will be well this coming season.
“We have managed to bond, interact and we hope nothing will distract us when the season starts,” he said. Some of the senior players that were at the retreat in Goromonzi at the weekend are Rodwell Chinyengetere, Devon Chafa and Phineas Bamusi.
Online Reporter