Herentals register first win

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter

Herentals………………….(1)3

Harare City…………………..0

HERENTALS star Brighton Majarira converted two goals from the spot to help his team register their first victory in the Chibuku Super Cup in an incident-filled match at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

The match referee Brighton Chimene awarded two penalties and also flashed two red cards.

Harare City coach Lloyd Chitembwe and his midfielder Tatenda Tavengwa were shown red cards for dissent by referee Chimene.

Chitembwe was sent off in the 59th minute just before the Students took their second spot-kick and Tavengwa was sent off during the stoppage time as emotions ran high at the National Sports Stadium.

Going into this match, Harare City only needed a point but circumstances have since changed coupled with ZPC Kariba’s victory against Yadah on Saturday.

The Sunshine Boys match against Dynamos is now a must-win for them when the last Chibuku Super Cup round of matches in Group One are played. ZPC Kariba, who are now on 11 points, also need to win against CAPS United in the last match and hope Harare City falter at the hands of the Glamour Boys.

Herentals got their first goal in the 15th minute when Majarira scored from the penalty spot. The referee awarded a spot-kick after Herentals forward Tino Benza was brought down inside the box by Harare City defender Spencer Masunda.

Benza had dispossessed Harare City defender Innocent Zambezi as he went for the goal inside the box only to be hacked down by Masunda.  In the 59th minute, Harare City centre back Masunda, again fouled Kelvin Bingala in the box, and Chimene pointed to the spot much to the chagrin of Chitembwe, who remonstrated, and was shown a red card and ordered to the terraces before Majarira beat Harare City goalkeeper Prosper Chigumba at the stroke of an hour.

Things were falling apart for the Sunshine Boys, who have won the prestigious Cup twice. Although the contest had begun at par, it was now Herentals dictating the pace, and they killed off the match as a contest in the 77th minute when forward Stanley Murove, who came in for ageless Innocent Benza, scored to finish off a nice move on the right flank initiated by Tinotenda Benza who made a good run and cut in to deliver a perfect pass.

The goal summed up a bad day in the office for Harare City who were on fire in the previous Chibuku Super Cup match.

But their coach Chitembwe blamed the match officials for the defeat and said he anticipated such a match against Herentals.

The coach had to exercise restraint after he was sent off and went to seat on the terraces where a few Herentals female supporters continued to provoke him getting personal, hurling insults at his persona when he was seated in the lower section of the VIP Bay and they were in the main VIP area.

Chitembwe got off from his seat, charged towards the women to remind them that it was just a game of football and they need to support their team and not to attack him personally.

The noisy supporters, seated in the VIP section as part of Herentals official guests allowed in a match during these Covid-19 matches, were clearly a bad advertisement for local football considering that they were seated in the VIP tribune.

“Naturally, I am disappointed with the result, of course, but all the same I am taking the consolation to that it was not down to how badly we played but it was down to the decisions that the people that are supposed to maintain the laws of the game and it’s very pity and very disappointing that we lost the game that way.

‘’It is by no coincidence, we anticipated this, when we play Herentals, it is not really about the time that we are playing against them but the man in the centre,” said Chitembwe.

“It is not only us who are crying foul. I am sure last week they also got two penalties (against CAPS United) and this week they also got two penalties and I can assure you, next week they will get another two penalties.

“If this is the way football is played, then it is very unfortunate, and we are not going anywhere and it’s sad really for our football if there is the saddest part of football, this is the saddest part, where players, coaches are expected to compete on the pitch, not the referees, the refs are just there to superintend over the laws of the game.

“It is very disappointing to lose a match but we have always wanted to play well and achieve our objectives in each and every single match that we play including the one that’s coming up against Dynamos. But when you have these things happening to you against you, then it saps the energy out of the team, and what do you expect.

“Nothing went wrong today, what went wrong was the officiating,” said Chitembwe.

Herentals coach Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva was excited with the victory and said they were better organised than their opponents.

“I would attribute this to playing without pressure since we are no longer going to progress to the next level, so we had no pressure and psychological we were better than Harare City in terms of our preparation and also managing the game.

‘’This is where we got better than them and also that they concentrated much on ball possession which we did counter by looking for goals rather than concentrating on keeping the ball. This was our major advantage that we capitalised on, and also confidence level it has improved for the team, this is the most important thing.

‘’Good build-ups particularly leading to goals and penalties, I was quite impressed with what and how we did today and we look forward to going out of Chibuku with dignity and a lot of respect,” said Mutiwekuziva.

“I am very comfortable and happy today.

“It has been long before we won a match. The best result we had got in this Cup before was a draw. But we managed to get three points with a good margin of three goals, it is good for us. The team has got a good foundation and what we have been building is coming up and maybe this is the start for us to complete our rebuilding. It was good to beat a team that is almost through to the Chibuku Super Cup next round,” he said.

Mutiwekuziva believes all the two spot-kicks awarded to them were genuine.

“I think whenever it comes to penalties for any team, normally they feel hard done but if you look at our penalties, wow, I think you just need to see the replays and this is why the western world has come up with VAR to prove some of those situations in football. The judgement for me and angles of view, they were 100 percent or 120 percent penalties according to our angles, that’s what I felt. If it was going to be given against my team, I would still have accepted the penalties,” he said.

Teams

Herentals: P. Tafiremutsa, K. Bingala, Z. Ruguchu, W. Chimbetu, I. Benza (S. Murove 58th minute), G. Chinobva, C. Zimhondi, W. Kapumha, T. Benza, T. Jim, B. Majarira.

Harare City: P. Chigumba, Z. Bizeki, M. Machazani, S. Masunda, I. Zambezi, B. Musaka, T. Tawengwa, C. Rupiya, W. Manondo, J. Chipangura, E. Mandiranga.