Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
CAPS United president Farai Jere is not pressing any panic button and feels the Green Machine are well within what they set out to achieve even after dropping significant points in a forgettable four-game phase last month.
Makepekepe looked like an invincible side in the opening third of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League marathon, always topping the log standings at every turn until they were undone by negative results in the past four weeks.
They have since dropped nine points in four games after drawing three times against MWOS, Simba Bhora and FC Platinum before losing 2-0 to Scottland last weekend.
The downturn has seen them dropping to fourth on the log on goal difference going into Match Day 16.
They last won a game on May 10 when they beat Dynamos 2-1 in the big Harare Derby. But such is the competitiveness of the domestic league that even after dropping such a huge chunk of points Makepekepe still have the same number of points as leaders Hardrock (28) after 15 games.
And Jere is drawing positivity out of that situation as the club boss maintains CAPS United can still win this year’s championship.
“What is happening at the moment is normal, but what is encouraging, and what is important, is to look at where we are on the log rather than focusing on the spell we’ve gone through,” said Jere.
“If you look at the last three or four matches, we have only dropped a match to Scottland. All the other matches were draws, which we are now trying to convert into wins so that we can get our team back on track for the ultimate prize — the championship.
“That hope is still there. I would like to encourage all our fans to know that we are still in the race. Despite going through a difficult period, we are still there, sharing the same number of points with the teams at the top.
“Why should we look down on ourselves and say, ‘No, we cannot achieve it’? We are going to achieve it . . . definitely. The ultimate prize we are aiming for is the league championship.
“I would like to assure our fans that we are doing everything to correct what we are going through. And with the transfer window approaching, we will be beefing up the team. We know the areas we need to reinforce to make sure we win the championship.
“What we have gone through is acceptable. Every team goes through it. If you look at the top leagues, even the top teams go through periods like this. Our prayer is that we turn the corner quickly and start collecting maximum points this weekend against ZPC Kariba and we go to Chicken Inn to get results, and we come back to play Agama”.
CAPS United are looking to turn the curve tomorrow when they host ZPC Kariba at Rufaro.
Their coach Takesure Chiragwi is back from international duty with the Warriors who had travelled for the Unity Cup in London, England.
In his absence, his deputy Ian Bakala took charge. But Chiragwi’s return is expected to transform the Green Machine into the mean team they had become, again.
“We are still on course. We are in the right position at the moment.
“There is no need for us to panic. It happens. If you remember what I said at the beginning of the league, I was very clear: we are going to win the league with the preparation we have done. But it’s not going to be easy,” Jere added.
“It’s going to be a race, because most teams have done their business — they’ve brought in players and recruited well.
“In our last match (against Scottland), we lost in the first 10 minutes, it happened. When you try to come back, sometimes it’s too late. And it happens when you’re playing good teams with good coaches that are well incentivised. Such things are expected.
“Once they get that one goal, the second becomes icing on the cake. When we tried to come back, it was very difficult.
“But we accept it. We have to move on. We lost a match, but we didn’t lose the battle. The battle is to win the league.”
Jere hailed the CAPS United fans for always finding a way of enjoying the football even when the results aren’t in their team’s favour. The CAPS United supporters have been trending after composing banter songs to celebrate their team even in defeat.
Their groupings have since hailed Jere for his stance on them.
The CAPS United players have spent most of the week asking themselves tough questions about themselves.
They know they need to loosen the valve and get to get going once again.
