Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
PLAYING for the oldest and arguably the biggest club in the country, Highlanders, is almost every player’s dream and those who’ve managed to don the famous black and white stripe have felt the honour of serving the institution.
Some players have been fortunate to start from the club’s vibrant junior system, learning the club culture on their way to realising their dreams of playing for the senior team. Others have been unfortunate and have had to make comebacks after honing their skills elsewhere.
Playing for Highlanders comes with a lot of expectations and one player who appreciates the enormous pressure of serving Bosso is their present striker – Lynoth Chikuhwa.
It took the 29-year-old nomadic forward, a product of Highlanders’ juniors, six years to finally realise his dream of playing for Bosso’s first team. Chikuhwa left Bosso at the end of 2013 when he captained their development side that was playing in the Zifa Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Division Two Soccer League.
The route to first team saw Chikuhwa joining now defunct Tsholotsho FC at the beginning of 2014 to become part of the history makers who led the rural outfit to the Premiership by winning the Zifa Southern Region Division One Soccer League title at the end of that season.
In Tsholotsho FC’s debut season, in 2015, Chikuhwa became their top scorer with eight goals.
In 2016, the striker had limited game time at Tsholotsho FC, prompting him to pack his bags midseason to search for greener pastures in Botswana where he landed at Black Forest who were in the top-flight.
Chikuhwa spent a season at Black Forest and became their top scorer with 11 goals, moved to another Botswana top side, Security Systems for the 2017/18 season where he topped his team’s score chart with seven goals.
At the end of 2017/18 season, Chikuhwa joined Miscellaneous, but a wrangle between Security System and his former side over his services side-lined him for the first-half of the season. The striker then played the last nine games of the 2018/19 season, banging 11 goals to become Miscellaneous’ top scorer.
At the end of the 2018/19 season, he signed for BR Highlanders where he went on to score nine goals in the first half of 2019/20 season before being lured to Bosso by Mandla Mpofu.Unfortunately, Covid-19 struck, halting football, meaning that Chikuhwa and the rest of the players were inactive the whole of 2020, returning to action in 2021.
Now the striker, who seems to have a DNA of being the top scorer wherever he goes, has banged seven goals in Highlanders’ last 10 games to reach a double digit figure in the PSL.
The arrival of coach Baltemar Brito has been a blessing for Chikuhwa who had only managed three goals in 17 first-half games of the 2021/22 season when Mpofu was in charge.But the 29-year-old striker, who became the first player to reach the 10 goal mark in the league at Highlanders since Knox Mutizwa who banged 14 goals in 2015, says it has been challenging to join the 10+ list of Bosso scorers.
“I’m happy to have reached the 10 goal mark but it’s not over, I still want to do more. I’m still working hard to get more goals. It’s not like I’m in a race with the league’s top scorer (William Manondo of Caps United with 15 goals). I’m doing what I know and we’ll see the rest at the end of the season.
“It hasn’t been easy to be where I am. I’ve had to make sacrifices, take insults from some coaches and supporters, but that has made me stronger to be the player I am today. Some might think it’s easy to play for Highlanders, there’s lots of pressure because Bosso supporters want one thing, a win always.
You play with loads of pressure and if you’re a striker you know that you’ve to score or at least create goals, but I’m enjoying it, that’s what I’m paid for,” Chikuhwa said.
The striker, feels the present Bosso team, which takes on Bulawayo Chiefs in tomorrow’s Chibuku Super Cup final, has grown in self-belief and believes they can overcome a slow season start to win silverware.
“We started slowly as a team but we are getting where we want to be. We’ve grown in confidence, there’s self-belief and we’re always working hard to get where we want to be. We’ve a chance to end the season with something in our cabinet and have to give our all in the Chibuku Super Cup by first beating Bulawayo Chiefs on Sunday.
It won’t be an easy game but the confidence we have makes us believe we can do it,” Chikuhwa says.
Just how did Chikuhwa start his football?
The 29-year-old striker started playing football at Mzilikazi Primary where he did his Grade one to seven from 1999 to 2005.
As a 10-year-old, he started playing club football, joining Celtics, a club that was owned by the late former businessman Nhamo Rusamo.
“I wasn’t academically good and when my parents saw that I liked football, they became supportive and allowed me to play football.
In granting me permission to play football, I wouldn’t attend all training sessions at Celtics whose grounds were Greenspan near West Park Cemetery as my parents felt it was far. But that changed when I went to secondary school and I had to find a club close to home. I joined Stock Field as a 13-year-old in 2006.
“Around 2009, I moved to Highlanders and played for their Under-17s before crossing over to Bantu Rovers’ juniors where I played with the likes of Nqobizitha Masuku, Kuda Mahachi and Marvelous Nakamba among others. I then returned to Bosso in 2012 to play in the Division Two team, stayed for two years and when things didn’t work out at Highlanders, I moved to Tsholotsho FC at the beginning of 2014,” said Chikuhwa.
Even at 29, Chikuhwa who challenges youngsters to be patient still dreams of playing outside the country.
“My parting words of encouragement to youngsters is that to make it in football, you’ve to be disciplined and patient as well as hard work.
Some coaches will tell you that you’re not good, don’t give up, work hard and appreciate that each coach has their own philosophy. If you’re a player, today you’re a bad player to one coach and tomorrow you’re a good one to another,” Chikuhwa said. – @ZililoR
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter