Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo in LILONGWE, Malawi
CAPS United’s professionalism on and off the field of play has won some hearts in Lilongwe with Malawian Super League giants Silver Strikers revealing they could partner the Green Machine beyond the current arrangement.
Makepekepe are in Malawi for a bonding and training exercise in preparation for the 2026 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season.
They played a friendly tie against the Bankers on Sunday at the Silver Stadium winning that tie 1-0 courtesy of a super strike from substitute Brett Amidu.
The two teams faced off once again at the same venue yesterday in another sparring encounter. CAPS United have another scheduled match against Dedza Dynamos on Sunday before they shift base to Mozambique where they will play another friendly tie with a yet-to-be-confirmed opponent.
But in Malawi, they are a highly-regarded team and their bus is always waved at whenever they are driving across Lilongwe and its warm residential areas.
They already have a Malawian feel in their own camp where Flames legend Joseph Kamwendo is the second assistant coach while two Malawian internationals Chawanangwa Kaonga and Lloyd Njaliwa have joined the Harare giants.
And Silver Strikers chief executive officer Patrick Chimimba said: “At Silver Strikers, we believe in getting partnerships with lots of teams.
“CAPS United has emerged as one of the clubs that we want to get into partnership with. “There is Chawanangwa Kaonga, who was playing for Silver Strikers and he is now with CAPS United.
“There is also Lloyd Njaliwa and another Malawian legend, Joseph Kamwendo, who is also there.
“It feels like CAPS United are the team that are looking at holding and helping our brothers.
“With that, we believe that we are going to take this partnership beyond the games that we are playing here.
“There is a lot that we can learn from them and CAPS United can also learn a lot from Silver Strikers.”
The current trip in which CAPS United are in close contact with Silver Strikers was sealed when CAPS United chief operating officer Maxwell Mironga and Kamwendo visited Malawi last December.
Chimimba, whose team has won nine Malawi Premier Soccer League titles, then decided that CAPS United play Silver Strikers due to the high esteem with which Zimbabwean Premiership giants are held, following their outstanding performances in the CAF Champions League in 2017.
“As one team that played in the CAF competitions, we thought it wise to host them, knowing that CAPS United is one of the biggest teams in Zimbabwe,” he added.
Mironga said the Green Machine were open to partnerships as they are good for their growth. “In this period in time, I think partnerships are the way to go.
“We will obviously deliberate, discuss and see how best the partnership can go,” Mironga said.
“It’s something that we always have to consider. We can learn a lot from them and they can do the same with us too.
“Synergies are the way to go. We are ready to twin them and will look and work on the how part of it.”
Silver Strikers coach Mapopa Msukwa commented on the technical ability of the CAPS United squad saying: “They’re good, and they’ve got room to improve in terms of physicality and the movements especially given that they are on off season.
“I think they will do well in the 2026 PSL season.”
