Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, [email protected]
FORMER Highlanders striker and coach Cosmas Zulu says the Highlanders and Dynamos clash has lost its lustre owing to mediocre players signed by both teams.
Zulu who enjoyed a colourful career with Bosso with over 45 pieces of silverware which includes two league titles, said from the time he joined Highlanders in 1981, the two teams were the yardstick of Zimbabwe football. He said in 1981 Highlanders had so many players nearing the end of their careers with a good number over 30. The solution, he said, lay in the junior development where Ali Dube was able to pluck out gems from obscurity and polish them up before the senior team harnessed them.
“When I joined Highlanders in 1981, most players were retiring because they were over 30. The club had to engage in renewal and we had someone like Ali Dube to count on. He was producing very good junior players. The Highlanders junior policy was very functional and productive, there was a structure,” said Zulu who is on a private family business in Bulawayo.
He now lives in Ngezi.
Zulu said Dynamos also enjoyed a similar position. “Dynamos too was able to produce its own players who were good enough to get national recognition,” said Zulu.
The veteran gaffer said he is disappointed with the country, looking forward to a blockbuster without reputable and undisputed great stars.
“It is unfortunate that the two teams are going into this match without any very good players. During our time, both sets of coaches would have nightmares in coming with a starting 11 as all the material at their disposal was top class. Fans cannot even mention 10-11 players from either side,” said Zulu.
Zulu who with Bobby Clark did a fantastic job with the Highlanders Under-18s in 1983 producing players who would later be the backbone of not only Bosso football but Zimbabwe’s game. What disappoints Zulu is that only Mongameli Tshuma is a recent Warriors cap. “The national team right through the Dream Team era was Dynamos and Highlanders, even the junior national teams, something is very wrong at these two clubs which needs to be addressed urgently. There is no structured development pathway, we wait for accidents to happen instead of going down the trusted development ways,” said Zulu.
Zulu said it was a common thing to have Highlanders dominate all junior national teams and the Warriors.
“We had players in the Under-17, 20 and 23 teams a majority from Highlanders and Dynamos too had good juniors. In the senior national team the two teams contributed the bulk. There was no national team without players from the big giants. Kanti vele why still call them giants when they have sunk into mediocrity with no stars to mention?” said Zulu.
Football success, he said, was not a staged project but a meticulous exercise with proper planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation at every stage.
“For instance, Tsano, a bamboo takes seven years to germinate but in six weeks it would have reason to 90cm off the ground. Soccer success is invested in and when that is done results start coming rapidly. We won a lot from 1984 onwards because we had worked hard with junior structures with Ali Dube and Bobby Clark,” said Zulu.
Zulu challenged both Dynamos and Highlanders to take their rightful places in Zimbabwe football by drawing practical development plans and funding them after equipping them with the right personnel.
“That one of these teams stays 20 years without winning the championship, does not demand it being called a giant anymore,” said Zulu. Dynamos last won the league title in 2014 and Highlanders in 2006.
Dynamos lie sixth and Highlanders seventh with 29 and 28 points respectively. The two clubs renew their rivalry for the umpteenth time at Barbourfields on Sunday a match eagerly anticipated by Zimbabwe fans. Both teams have shown signs of revival this season, following a 2025 campaign which had both coming close to relegation. – @FungaiMuderere.
