Lovemore Dube, [email protected]
“TAKING over Khami United was my toughest coaching job.”
These are the words of Morris Mukwiti who joined Khami United at the beginning of the second half of the Pacific Breeze Southern Region Soccer League season.
Khami were on position 13, just two points from the drop zone but put up an immaculate display of bravery and commitment to ride up the table. They finished on position eight after amassing a whopping 29 points for an eight best tally in the second stanza.
The correctional services officers are not as well sponsored as some of the teams. Mukwiti did not have the luxury of going to the market to bring talent but worked hard with the material at his disposal and thanks Khami Prison and Correctional Services management for creating an enabling environment for the team to do better.
“This year’s Division One championship is the toughest I have ever experienced also as a coach. I was hired in the second half to save the team from relegation.
“What proved very difficult for me is that I did not add more players to beef up the team, I had to rely on the players that started the first half with the team and they were the same players who we wanted to motivate. It was not easy because the club did not have a sponsor,” said Mukwiti who has Highlanders’ Reason Sibanda, Aaron Ngwenya and Mongameli Tshuma among the players he coached at elementary level.
“We had to rely on teamwork and hard work,” Mukwiti said declaring that come 2027 they will do better.
He acknowledged that it was not easy to work with players who did not play junior league football as they lacked teaching of fundamentals at the right age.
“Those that have played junior development level have basics; we look at the tactical aspects,” said Mukwiti.
He also praised inmate Gift Ncube for giving a good account of himself in the Zifa Southern Region League.
Meanwhile, Johannes Nhumwa’s Jordan had the best second-round statistics after amassing 37 points in the second round of the race.
