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FORMER Dynamos and Warriors captain Moses Chunga has had more fallouts in the game than a kid in a school play ground. The Razorman, as he is affectionately known, does not mince his words and does not care how the next person will feel about his sentiments, and you certainly cannot blame him especially when the media has put him on the spotlight.
And quite frankly, when he speaks, the football world has a reason to listen because he is no ordinary personality. He was a player cut from a different cloth from the rest during his playing days. He has played outside the country and also led the national team from the front and when he changed his focus to coaching, he has not been a disaster; remember he won the league championship with a modest side, Gunners. He has also coached the big boys, Dynamos and Caps United, never mind how he left the two, but always keep this at the back of your mind; he will go back one day!
Now with Buffaloes after his romance with Chiredzi did not last the distance, Chunga is one guy you can trust to give a frank assessment of traditional football giants in the country. He has already said Caps United, a club he has coached before, has no pedigree to last the distance to win the championship despite a fine start to the season.
He has already said ZPC Kariba, the wonder new boys who went for 19 games unbeaten, will not win the title because they lack the experience to stage a dog fight in the last stages of the season with the big boys.
He said he believed Highlanders and Dynamos will go all the way to fight for honours because of experience.
“Caps United and ZPC Kariba are also in the run but I don’t see them lasting the distance. At this stage you need consistence and Caps United always disappoint at this stage. They don’t have the zeal to win though I will give Taurai Mangwiro and my brother Saul Chaminuka credit for being where they are now.
“A top four finish will be fair to both of them. In the Championship I put my money on Dynamos or Highlanders. The two have great potential to lift it and experience will count because the two clubs have seen it all,” he told our sister paper, B-Metro this week.
However, after watching his charges hold Highlanders to a goalless draw at Hartsfields ground on Wednesday, the Razorman was not impressed with the performance of the home side, and even refused to compare the team to the yester year sides which he faced as a player and coach.
In a thin veiled jibe at the Highlanders technical team, Chunga told this publication after the match that it was no longer the same Highlanders of yester year. He said his charges were not intimidated by their more illustrious opponents and with a bit of luck, they could have grabbed all the three points.
Asked whether he felt Bosso were still a fiery side just like during his time as a player, where opponents were literally bullied before the match and scared to death, Chunga first laughed at the mention of “fiery” before giving his candid assessment of Highlanders.
“You know, when a pride of lions is led by a sheep, no one gets scared by those lions because they could probably be toothless unlike when a lion leads a flock of sheep, everyone notices. I hope you get what I’m driving at,” he said.
With the two points dropped, Bosso find themselves three points behind their fierce rivals Dynamos who sailed past Chiredzi 2-0 through a Roderick Mutuma brace.
Nonetheless, Bosso coach Kelvin “KK” Kaindu still believes the championship race is still wide open. Highlanders have drawn nine matches, the third highest number of draws in the league after ZPC Kariba (11) and FC Platinum (10) but they remain the most lethal side with 31 goals to date.
A loss for DeMbare and a win for Tshilamoya will see the two giants level on points but Highlanders have a better goal difference. What makes Bosso’s fight even more difficult is that Dynamos are left with just two matches outside Harare from the remaining games. Their next match will be away to FC Platinum before they visit their former son Chunga at Sakubva Stadium against Buffaloes in Week 25.
Chunga has said his mind, you can dismiss him if you like, but if you are Kaindu you cannot afford to ignore him. You have just been driven into a corner where you have to defend yourself and prove to the world that you are not a “sheep” leading a pride of lions, surely it can’t be a mismatch that Kaindu is coaching Highlanders. But its up to Kaindu to prove that to Chunga and everybody else who of late has been doubting his capabilities.
This is an uncomfortable position that Kaindu finds himself in, as it is in stark contrast to the warm welcome he received when he joined Highlanders and revived hopes among the Bosso faithfuls after a number of disappointing years. He was the Prince Charming of the time, and took Highlanders to a fine run of 22 games unbeaten, and lost the title to Dynamos on goal difference in his maiden season in 2012.
The following season, he again finished second, losing to Dynamos, but atoned for the league loss by winning the country’s premier knock out competition, the Mbada Diamonds Cup. And if you are to fairly rate Kaindu, he certainly has not been a failure at Highlanders, but his biggest challenge are expectations from fans who want him to topple Dynamos. Its still game on and the ball is certainly in Kaindu’s court.
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