admin
Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
CAPS United have just four hurdles to clear to return to the winners’ enclosure in the Castle Lager Premiership for the first time in more than a decade after the buoyant Green Machine opened a two-point lead in the championship race yesterday. An impressive 3-1 win over Border Strikers in Beitbridge, on a defining weekend when FC Platinum were floored 1-2 by Harare City at Rufaro, thrust Makepekepe into the lead of the marathon with only four matches left in the race.
Powered by the need to bury the ghost of under-achievement, which has stalked them for the past 11 years, this resilient Green Machine has shown the qualities needed to win a championship title that has eluded them since coach Charles Mhlauri led them to success in 2005.
In a season where their biggest rivals, Dynamos, have at best been a sickening joke and, at worst, an insult to the reputation of the Glamour Boys, success for CAPS United in this year’s championship race will taste even sweeter for the club’s long-suffering fans.
But danger lurks everywhere and, somehow, fate has scripted an intriguing countdown, for CAPS United, which will see them needing to beat not only the Glamour Boys, in their next league match, but two clubs under the tutelage of Dynamos sons in two of their last three games.
The Harare Derby is the next in line and, although DeMbare’s struggles mean that it’s unlikely to be a blockbuster box-office hit this season, it remains the biggest match for the capital.
And, for those Dynamos fans who feel that a CAPS United success in the league this year will amplify the pain, it presents them with one last chance to derail their biggest rivals’ march towards the Promised Land.
Makepekepe ended seven years of waiting, for an elusive league victory over their biggest rivals, when Dominic Chungwa’s second-half goal powered them to victory at Rufaro.
And, the Green Machine now have a chance to complete a double over their eternal rivals in the Harare Derby when DeMbare come to the National Sports Stadium where CAPS United are unbeaten in the league since Chitembwe arrived for his latest stint as head coach in September last year.
CAPS United have played 19 league matches at the giant stadium during that period and have won 16 while drawing the other three against Buffaloes, in the coach’s first game, Triangle and FC Platinum. They have scored 29 goals, in their fortress and concede just five.
Twice, during that period, they have also used Rufaro as their home and both matches, against ZPC Kariba and Hwange, ended in draws.
Interestingly, when CAPS United were champions in 2004 and 2005, the Green Machine beat Dynamos in both their league meetings with Makepekepe winning the first game 1-0, in 2004, and then powering to a 2-1 victory in the second game after goals by Ashley Rambanepasi and Leonard Tsipa helped them recover from conceding an early goal by Clive Mwale.
In 2004, just like now, Dynamos were also held at Rufaro to a draw by Hwange. Back then, just like now, Highlanders led the opposition to CAPS United’s quest to be champions, which ultimately was unsuccessful, with Bosso finishing second, while a club from Zvishavane, Shabanie Mine, ended in third place.
DeMbare struggled that year and finished sixth.
The following year, CAPS were crowned champions again and, in that marathon, they beat Dynamos home and away, with the Green Machine winning 2-1 in the first game and then winning by the same score, with Tsipa scoring the winner after Chitembwe had scored the first, in the second game.
But that CAPS United triumph was, to some extent, aided by an unlikely ally when Dynamos beat Masvingo United 2-1 on a rain-swept afternoon at Mucheke when a victory for Yuna Yuna would have given them the championship on that final day of the season after the Green Machine crashed to a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Black Rhinos.
DeMbare struggled all season and even stared relegation in the final few games, but their victory in Masvingo on the last day of the season ensured they didn’t need to rely on other results to retain their Premier League status.
CAPS United have, in the past four years, also returned that favour by beating ZPC Kariba and Harare City, on the final day of the season, when victory for these teams would have given them the championship, with DeMbare triumphing on both occasions.
In the event that Makepekepe clear the Dynamos hurdle, they will still have to deal with Harare City, who are coached by DeMbare legend Moses Chunga, and a Ngezi Platinum side under the guidance of another Glamour Boy, Tonderai Ndiraya.
Online Reporter