Online Reporter
Innocent Kurira ,[email protected]
THE inaugural Munhumutapa Challenge Cup has already thrown up several mouth-watering preliminary round fixtures, but few carry as much emotional significance as Gwanda Pirates’ date with Harare City.
When the two sides meet in the preliminary round on the weekend of July 11-12, it will not simply be a battle for a place in the lucrative Round of 32. It will also reunite two coaches whose football journeys have long been intertwined.
Gwanda Pirates coach Johannes Ngodzo will come face to face with his former mentor, Try Ncube, now in charge of Harare City.
The pair enjoyed a successful spell together at Bulawayo City, where Ncube was the head coach and Ngodzo his assistant as they masterminded the club’s promotion to the Premier Soccer League in 2019.
Seven years later, both men are writing their own chapters from opposite dugouts.
The Munhumutapa Challenge Cup, a Government-sponsored knockout competition carrying a staggering US$1 million first prize and a CAF Confederation Cup ticket for the winners, has been designed to bring together clubs from every level of Zimbabwean football. Their meeting perfectly captures that spirit, with lower division clubs dreaming of testing themselves against the country’s elite.
For Ngodzo, the fixture is special, but sentiment will disappear once the referee signals kick-off.
“Coach Try is someone I respect a lot because we worked together for many years. We have remained close on and off the field, but football is football. For those 90 minutes, friendship is put aside because we both want to win.”
Ncube is equally delighted to see his former assistant flourishing in his own career.
“Johannes has done very well for himself and I am proud of his progress. We are like brothers and we still share a good relationship, but when the game starts we will both be fighting for our teams.”
The winner of the tie will move a step closer to the Round of 32, where the surviving 14 lower-tier clubs will be joined by the 18 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League teams.
While progression is the immediate target, the clash also serves as a reminder of how coaching relationships continue to shape Zimbabwean football.
For one afternoon, the teacher and his student will stand in opposite technical areas, each plotting the other’s downfall.
When the final whistle sounds, however, the rivalry will give way once again to the friendship forged during Bulawayo City’s memorable promotion campaign.
It is a meeting where only one coach can progress, but both will leave with the respect that has bound them together long before the Munhumutapa Challenge Cup brought them face to face.
