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It is the only league match set for the city this weekend as the two other clubs, Chicken Inn and log leaders Highlanders will be visiting the capital.
Chicken Inn will square off against Motor Action at Motor Action Sports Club this afternoon seeking to complete a double after a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture.
Championship co-favourites, Highlanders left the City of Kings and Queens yesterday morning for the second part of Battle of the Cities against Caps United at Rufaro Stadium this afternoon.
Without doubt, the match will bring the capital city to a standstill as the black and white army invades the capital in what will prove to be their biggest away match so far. Never mind the pending fixtures against arch-rivals Dynamos, Hwange and even little Harare City, who held them to a 1-1 draw at Barbourfields Stadium.
Tshilamoya welcomes back midfield general Mthulisi Maphosa, exciting right back Atlast Musasa and chief striker Graham Ncube. The trio missed the 7-1 demolition of neighbours Quelaton due to suspensions. Same goes for the troubled Harare side, who welcome Tawanda Munyanduri, Washington Pakamisa and misfiring striker Evans Gwekwerere.
Soccer Star of the Year finalist favourite, Maphosa, will add grit to the midfield which despite the win last Sunday was guilty of being found on the wrong side of action especially after losing possession after a foiled offensive move. While Chicken Inn and Bosso are gunning for the title, it is a completely different issue for their neighbours who are starring relegation right in their face and coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube has a tough assignment trying to save the sinking ship deep in troubled waters.
He too understands and knows the job at hand and if he succeeds, he will surely be on the lips of many scribes for the Coach of the Year.
His boss, Tawanda Ruzive has not and will never throw in the towel until game number 30, against Hwange.
“We got a rude but necessary shock against our big brothers Highlanders last week which as a club we believe was a result of complacency on the part of the players who thought after a 1-1 draw in the first half, they would finish the job but alas, Highlanders came firing from the left, right and centre,” said club director Ruzive.
He said he was more than confident that Quelaton would have another dance with the big boys next season and like assistant coach and former Highlanders son Simba Rusike said after last Sunday’s mauling, the fight goes on.
“The road to recovery starts against Black Mambas tomorrow and that is not an illusion,” said Ruzive.
His club went on a buying spree in the second half of the transfer-window, registering a massive eight players, among them veterans, Ndumiso Khanye, Thulani “Mbalisi” Moyo and Chipo Tsodzo.
The trio will play a huge role in the survival of the club that has amassed just five points in 16 games although three points were deducted after they fielded a suspended player in their match against Motor Action at Luveve Stadium in which they lost 3-0. At any other club, the manager would have been sacked immediately.
At Rufaro Stadium today, the capital and the nation will literally come to a virtual standstill as Amahlolanyama and Makepekepe slug it out in a match that can either make or break each side. Caps are yet to win inside six matches and are under Taurai Mangwiro and former son Bosso son Mkhuphali Masuku. Without any doubt Rufaro will be filled to capacity with three sets of fans, home team, away team and Dynamos fans who will be painfully forced to cheer their worst enemies in a bid to derail the Kelvin Kaindu-led Highlanders.
“We know they have been going through a bad patch of late and would want to put an end to that at our expense. However we also want nothing other than the three points,” Kaindu was quoted saying during the week.
The Zambian born gaffer said there was no guarantee that the four players who were with the national team in Zambia, skipper Innocent Mapuranga, leftback Bruce Kangwa, goalkeeper Ariel Sibanda and midfield marvel Peter Moyo would start tomorrow.
However it would be just suicidal for Kaindu not to field the four players who put up brilliant performances against Zambia on Wednesday despite the Warriors losing 2-1.
Defending champions Dynamos come up against struggling Blue Rangers who are under nomadic coach Partson Ndabambi.
The coach has already threatened to embarrass the Harare giants and it will be folly for the Callisto Pasuwa- coached Glamour Boys to ignore those threats as Rangers completed a double last season when they were still Blue Ribbon.
Chipangano, who still defy normal and mathematic logic by claiming that the league title is still possible despite being 13 points adrift of Highlanders, left the coal-mining town of Hwange yesterday headed for the capital where they will face a new look Gunners, another silent candidate for relegation.
Fixtures
Today: Caps United v Highlanders (Rufaro), Motor Action v Chicken Inn (Motor Action Sports Club), Harare City v Shabanie Mine (Gwanzura), FC Platinum v Buffaloes (Mandava), Gunners v Hwange (Larfarge)
Sunday: Hardbody v Monomotapa (Ascot), Blue Rangers v Dynamos (Rufaro), Quelaton v Black Mambas (Luveve).
Online Reporter