Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo in LILONGWE, Malawi
CAPS United coach Takesure Chiragwi is happy with the significant progress his players have made just a week into their pre-season team building and bonding exercise in Malawi.
The Green Machine have set base in the Warm Heart of Africa where they are also engaging in high-profile friendlies with Malawian top-flight teams as they calibrate for the 2026 Premier Soccer League season that gets underway next month.
Makepekepe have played two sparring matches against Lilongwe giants Silver Strikers, winning both games and they are scheduled to face MAFCO to wrap up the Malawi friendly series tomorrow.
They will then shift base around Wednesday to neighbouring Mozambique where another practice game is pencilled in Tete before they head back home for the final fine-tuning leg before facing Agama in their PSL season opener.
While CAPS United started their pre-season back home last month, just like all other teams, the diversity of their squad needed more than just tactics to become a unit.
The Malawi trip has provided just the right nutrients to nourish that goal.
There is evident cohesion in the team, that wasn’t there before, on and off the field of play and that’s what Chiragwi, who knows there is a lot of expectations on his shoulders, can’t be happier.
“Cohesion is one thing that is expensive in a team. When you start seeing it even with a naked eye, you know you are almost there.
“The essence is to build a team that can compete and there is no way you can do that with a fragmented squad.
“The unity I am seeing is just top level. I am loving every bit of it,” Chiragwi said.
There was an obvious shift in CAPS United’s second friendly match against Silver Strikers on Wednesday when they mauled the nine-time Malawi champions 3-0.
The first outing had ended 1-0 in Makepekepe’s favour but their shape was somewhat not easily recognisable with Silver Strikers looking sharper.
But just three days later, the Harare giants threw a gripping contest with youngsters especially outstanding.
“You know, the most important factor to come to into this camp is to make sure you give everyone an opportunity to play so that you can also see their character and their confidence while they’re playing in these international friendlies,” said Chiragwi.
“And you could see the youngsters. Yeah, they’re there. We need them to play so that they have that confidence.
“When they go back home, they can also go there to compete. We need all players to compete.
“Every player who is going to be registered, needs to compete and play regardless of their age, you can see now football is changing. These youngsters are the ones who are now playing.
“And with the guidance of seniors and experienced players, it’s easy for them to go in there and give what they have to.
“And it’s also an advantage to us that they have a lot of creativity, speed and energy so that they can also complement the experienced guys that we have.”
Chiragwi said a team that can compete throughout the season needs depth and that’s what his squad is showing him.
“That’s what we are trying to work on, to make sure that we’ve got a competitive team and that we’ve got enough depth in every position,” added Chiragwi.
“I think you can see we are trying to have that in the team.
“And you can see some fruits, some results are coming slowly. They are not yet there. You see some of them, they are still young.
“There’s a lot of mistakes that they are making.
“But for them to make sure they correct those mistakes is by giving them the opportunity to play so they can also try to improve themselves through playing.
“They can learn from playing. That’s how they can improve on their mistakes.”
CAPS United are one of the pre-season favourites to clinch the league title given the investment they have poured into their project including this eye-opening tour which follows international standards.
