Online Reporter
Don Makanyanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
KUMBIRAI Mutiwekuziva began life as Ngezi Platinum Stars coach under a cloud that has not lifted.
A FIFA transfer ban still blocks the club from registering players, more than US$700,000 is owed to former coaches Benjani Mwaruwai and Bongani Mafu, and several senior players have already left the squad.
But, despite all this, Ngezi started their new championship campaign with a win over FC Platinum.
Saturday’s 2-1 victory in the Platinum Derby at Baobab gave the new coach an early boost and a dressing room that suddenly believes it can compete despite the uncertainty hanging over the club.
The Mhondoro Ngezi side are serving a three window registration ban imposed by FIFA after a dispute with Mafu and Benjani over unpaid compensation.
Until that matter is settled the club cannot register new players, a restriction that has complicated preparations for the new Premier Soccer League season.
By the time Mutiwekuziva took over, the squad had already been reshaped by the crisis.
Eight senior players had left and most of the previous technical team led by Takesure Chiragwi had moved to CAPS United.
Instead of rebuilding through the transfer market, the new coach has had to work with the group that remained and the players returning from loan spells.
He admits the weeks leading into the season were unsettled.
“It was a very difficult off season coming into pre-season because of the situation that unfolded,” Mutiwekuziva.
“It is not easy for players to go onto the field when there is a lot happening around the club, but we kept working and tried to give them confidence.
“I have been telling them that this is an opportunity.
“In football players and coaches move all the time. When that happens it creates space for others to step forward and show what they can do.”
Several of those now pushing for starting roles are players who had spent time on loan gaining experience elsewhere.
“Most of these boys have come back after getting game time,” said Mutiwekuziva.
“You have to credit to the previous coaches and management for that.
“Sending them out helped them grow and now they have returned ready to compete in the Premiership.”
The derby offered an early test of that belief.
Ngezi matched FC Platinum throughout a tense contest that carried the usual edge between the two platinum mining towns before edging the result late on.
The win does not remove the sanction or the financial dispute that caused it.
Those issues remain and the club still face a season without the ability to strengthen its squad.
For now though, the result has given the new coach something valuable at the start of a difficult campaign.
