Monomotapa aim high

season.

They want to use the NetOne Charity Shield tournament at Mandava over the weekend to fine-tune their squad. Monomotapa were the only team to beat Bulawayo giants Highlanders in the league match last season and will start as favourites at the four-team tournament in Mandava this weekend.

The 2008 league champions will face Chicken Inn, in the first semi-final of the NetOne Charity Shield tomorrow, while FC Platinum will defend their home turf against CAPS United in the other tie.

Controversy has once again stalked this year’s edition of the Charity Shield after sentimental favourites, Dynamos and Highlanders “failed to garner” enough votes from the fans through the short-message-service platform.

Both Dynamos and Highlanders are sponsored by bankers BancABC. Last year’s edition of the Charity Shield was nearly aborted following a clash between BancABC and NetOne over logos on the tournaments shirts.

A snap survey of the results during the voting last week had showed Dynamos leading while Monoz were second and Bosso in third place with CAPS in fourth.

But when the official results were announced on Tuesday, Dynamos and Highlanders had fallen with DeMbare chairman, Kenny Mubaiwa, claiming that there was a boardroom manuveour to push his team out of the competition that could be beamed live on Supersport 9.

However, away from the boardroom, Monoz assistant coach Nkululeko Dhlamini said they were ready to make a strong challenge for their first silverware since the 2008 league championship.

“We are not feeling any pressure as we play in the tournament,” said Dhlamini.
“Our aim is to go to the final and win it on Sunday.
“As Monomotapa, we are happy that fans have voted for us to play in this tournament because it shows that people loved our type of football last season.”

During the off-season, Monoz lost nearly a dozen players, including former skipper Tawanda Nyamandwe, who is now at CAPS United.

Defender Fidelis Mangezi is now at Motor Action while midfielder Russell Madamombe and goalkeeper Artwell Mukandi have joined Dynamos.
“Our game should be exciting and entertaining. We now have a brand through our football.
“We need to repay the faith that has been placed in us by the fans with a brand of exciting and entertaining football,” he said.

Dhlamini, who is also an assistant coach in the interim-Warriors set-up, is confident that they are on the right track in assembling a squad for this season.
“We lost about 12 players from last season but we have managed to recruit a number of new players.
“I think we are now okay in terms of assembling a squad that can compete this season,” said Dhlamini.

The spotlight on Monomotapa could also fall on Nicholas Guyo who burst into prominence when he was called into the Warriors squad that faced Botswana in an international friendlily at Rufaro last month.

Guyo has never played a competitive match in the Castle Lager Premiership after he was snapped from lower league side Maningi Warriors.

Monomotapa has also roped in the experienced Ishmael Lawe, who was at Gunners and CAPS United, while Chicken Inn are still trying to adjust life in the Premiership without their coach Adam Ndlovu.
Ndlovu did well to lead the team to a fourth position on the Castle Lager Premiership before he died in a tragic road accident last year.

Now Chicken Inn are hoping to win their first silverware in the Premiership while the other NetOne Charity Shield semi-final match will feature FC Platinum and CAPS United.

The Green Machine struggled to make an impression last season when they started off with Northern Irishman Sean Connor, as team manager, before Taurai Mangwiro was called to rescue the ship.

Now CAPS United have changed the management team and a number of players were also released as Brenna Msiska and Albert “Dalala” Mabika hold the fort in the technical department.

Meanwhile, Zifa’s Supporters’ Liaison officer, Simeion Jamanda, has hailed the initiative by NetOne to involve the fans in selection teams that will play in this year’s edition of the Charity Shield, saying it was a refreshingly different way from the traditional ways of having a predetermined selection criteria.