Is this Bosso’s handwriting or forgery?

They saw the handwriting of Figo, as Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu was known during his playing days, after the former Real Madrid and Barcelona star Luis Figo, but they don’t believe it is his Highlanders they were watching.

The saw the team thump Blue Rangers at Barbourfields in the opening game of the season with an avalanche of goals. They followed when the team outwitted stubborn Hardbody, getting a priceless point in Mutare against Buffaloes before travelling to Zvishavane where they made light work of FC Platinum.

It was the handwriting of the old Highlanders that attracted a full house whenever playing back then. It was the handwriting of Highlanders nicknamed Tshilamoya, back then when the game was more of a pastime than a profession.

It was the handwriting of a Highlanders nicknamed Bossolona, which dominated the league in the first four years of the new millennium and the signature of the team that popularised what became known as road shows, yes they started as the Bosso Road Show, from Bulawayo to Gweru, from Bulawayo to Harare, from Bulawayo to Zvishavane, Masvingo and from Bulawayo to Hwange. We saw the signature once more at Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane where Kaindu’s boys made the big names at Platinum look amateurish.

In fact, the 3-1 score-line was not a true reflection of the game which Highlanders took to their opponents from the first whistle, bullish in all departments and with more self belief, the Bulawayo giants could have harvested half a dozen goals.

Milton Ncube came close to scoring, Graham Ncube came close to grabbing a brace, Simbarashe Mambare and Bevan Chikaka also came close to scoring their second goals for the Bulawayo giants and more and more Highlanders raids were either thwarted by Platinum goalkeeper, Tafadzwa Dube, who seemed the only one in green and white interested in the game, or missed the target.

Highlanders were a better side in all departments, despite letting in a harmless looking ball for the hosts’ face saver, with anchorman Mthulisi Maphosa going back and forward with ease like a yoyo, Eric Mudzingwa getting better by each minute at the heart of defence with Innocent Mapuranga, Peter Moyo and Heritein Masuku getting the better of the ball in the midfield and Milton and Graham jerking their followers off their seats each time they were in possession.

And the Bosso Road Show also came back to life, thanks to good results in the games before the Zvishavane tie that gave their fans the courage to follow them to Mandava, where they failed to win last season, losing 2-0 in the game which was Rahman Gumbo’s debut as FC Platinum coach. And ironically, the Tuesday game was almost his last!

Highlanders fans entered into a marriage of convenience with Shabanie fans, who came dressed in their own maroon and white regalia, so as to make a statement, and they cheered the black and white boys throughout the afternoon, at a time when Platinum fans decided to vent their anger and frustration on their coach.

You cannot blame the fans for being rebellious when the team is not playing well. It is their nature to vent their frustration at anyone. It can be against opposition players and fans. It can be against their own players or executive and in this case, it was directed against their own coach. But you feel pity for the coach because his players also did not do him a favour. Players play for the coach. He is their master. However, on Tuesday, they did not play for him. They never fought their way back into the contest. In the previous game at home they let slip a 2-0 lead and eventually drew 2-2 with arch rivals Shabanie.

In the game against Highlanders, coming after an away draw to Chicken Inn, a game which they could have easily lost had the hosts not given them too much respect, they walked into their home turf, Mandava, like soldiers going to war without boots and rifles. In short, their approach was just lackadaisical, save for a few moments when goalkeeper Dube was forced to make a suicidal save, and not to be too harsh, when Ali Sadiki and Cabby Kamhapa were in possession. In short, once more, they were outwitted.

The onus is certainly on players to make sure FC Platinum are not deemed failures as a club, and failure is certainly not falling down, like they did Tuesday, but staying down. The onus is on them to wake up and stand up and be counted when they meet Motor Action this afternoon, or else they will face the full wrath of their home fans.

It is unfortunate that the drama at FC Platinum dominated newspaper back pages during the week, at a time when Kaindu should have been getting his place in the sun for reviving Highlanders fortunes. The Highlanders side seems hungry to score, and anyone playing them should know that no matter how many goals you fire past Arial Sibanda, those boys are prepared to return the favour.

That is the mentality and approach that has come with the Zambian coach at Highlanders and you can see that players now believe in themselves. And by the time they hit a hard surface and poor form, like any other team in the world, they would have gone far in as far as the league race is concerned.

Even the club fans know that and they spent the better part of the week exchanging notes on the social network, responding to a statement that read as follows: “Our coach has shown great character in his team rotation and balancing flair with results. He rewards players based on effort put at training and we have seen him use two goalkeepers in four matches. Now we are going to Harare this Saturday to face a more determined and confusing Black Mambas which thrives on fluke like Newcastle United and now how are we supposed to handle this gentlemen/ladies of the higher levels? Open fire to try and harvest goals with an unchanged side or use untested players to test our functional depth or caution and hit them on counter attack? Let’s hear the views from our traditional coaches and their line-ups. Soweto coaches are leading so far with Empankweni second and Western wing a distant third in picking the teams”.

Amos Zingwe Simba responded saying an unchanged side from the Platinum game should face Mambas this afternoon.

Busani Bigboy Ngwenya said what he liked about the coach was that he picked players on merit, perhaps because he is a foreigner and does not know who stays in which suburb, he only considers performance.

Bekezela Mguni said, “There is no game that we will approach with caution. Every team that comes our way has to be cautious, not us. So we are going out to attack because that is our usual game”.

Nkululeko Ncube weighed in saying, “Let’s attack and attack, their defence will make mistakes. We played mid week, so I guess nothing much changed at training. So he (coach) has to stick to the Platinum team.

To the police side, you ought to be afraid and be very afraid”.

Is this the handwriting or its forgery?

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