Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
CAPS United coach Takesure Chiragwi is excited with the prospect of facing Highlanders in the Chibuku Super Cup semi-final after the two giants were drawn to face each other yesterday.
The draw was held immediately after a feisty quarter-final clash between Scottland and Hardrock, which the latter claimed on a 1-0 scoreline.
Hardrock will host fellow top-flight newcomers FC Hunters in the other semi-final, which will be staged on the weekend of October 31-November 1.
While there will be a lot of plots and subplots in the Hardrock against FC Hunters match, it is certainly the match-up of Makepekepe and Bosso that drew instant attention during the draw.
The Green Machine completed a rare league double over Highlanders this season, and they have a good opportunity to not only show that those results were no fluke but to reach the Chibuku Super Cup final for the first time since its return to the domestic football radar 12 years ago.
Chiragwi said he wouldn’t have selected who to face in the last four because all the other three teams were in the pot because they deserved it.
“You know it’s hard to say maybe we would have wanted to face this team or that team at this stage of the competition,” said Chiragwi.
“It’s never easy to face any team that has made the semis. Being drawn against Highlanders was what was meant to be for us.
“So, we take the draw. We take the match-up, and we are ready for it.
“I think what matters is not who we are facing but how we will prepare to face who we will face.
“Highlanders is a big team, a giant for that matter, just like us.
“They have won the Chibuku Super Cup before (in 2019). They know how to play in these tournaments.
“But we also know how to carry ourselves, and that is the reason why we have come all the way to the semis.
“How we prepare matters the most. I think we are excited about the draw and let’s see what happens when we get to the bridge, when it’s time to cross it.”
Chiragwi acknowledged the fixture could be tricky, no less, after Bosso beat the Ngezi Platinum Stars side, for which he was an assistant to Rodwell Dhlakama, in the 2019 final.
“As I said, Highlanders is a big team. They are one of the best teams in terms of play even this season.
“They can never be predicted because of the respect that they carry,” added Chiragwi.
“You find that they can also say the same about us, and that makes this semi-final encounter all the more enticing.
“I think it will be good for football, for the sponsors, for the fans and all the other stakeholders.
“But at the end of the day, what we want to achieve is clear. We want to win. We have failed to deliver the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title to the team. We surely have to pick out something this season.
“We are not looking at who we are playing; we will be looking at what we can do as a team to secure our passage to the final.
“That’s all, and that’s what is important.”
CAPS United haven’t won a trophy since winning the league championship a decade ago, and with the way Chiragwi has transformed them, there is an air of optimism sweeping across the giants’ corridors that they can finally reclaim their status as the Cup Kings, a moniker attached to them from long back.
Makepekepe’s prowess since the 1970s when they came into being, was on winning cup tournaments, and this year, they look to have remembered how to perform well as they are also in the quarter-finals of the Munhumutapa Cup.
