An over-psyched
Highlanders FC faced a very nervous Dynamos in a Castle Lager Premier League match at Barbourfields
Stadium, hoping to rectify a crooked record dating to 2006 against the
arch-rivals. An immense amount of pressure in the first half counted for naught
as Bosso fell to a sucker-punch just after a second half restart.
With less than 30
seconds played, Charles Sibanda set up Njabulo Ncube who took weak shot from
close range. That chance came from left wing after fine run by the league’s
best striker, who delivered a perfect cross for Ncube to squander. The match
proved to be a good passing game by both sides, Highlanders taking the
initiative to create and fluff golden chances due to pressure to perform
against their nemesis.
The Bosso wingbacks
exposed themselves to Dembare attacks as they flooded forward, but the coach
rectified the situation by pushing midfielders wide and kept the defenders put.
Generally, both teams’ first touches lacked quality and exposed the players to
possible injuries and bad decision-making. The many long balls proved fatal as
strikers wrestled with defenders to control the balls.
Picking up of the
second ball was dominated by Mantengwane. Sibanda played an extremely mobile
type of football, spurning glorious chances to bury the opposition. Calisto
Pasuwa replaced Mbimba who failed to catch up with the pace and the rhythm of
the game by Murape Murape. That move was the game changer and the tonic of the
game that the visitors wanted.
Mapuranga was fried
by his man on the left wing, let a cross come through into the box. Kangwa
controlled the ball for Mutumwa to stab the ball from under the crossbar. That
goal was enough to compound a miserable period in which Highlanders collected
two out of twelve points.
Despite previous
dropped points, Highlanders kept the top spot, but the defeat at home lowered
them to third and it can be worse in the next few days. Despite an avalanche of
clear-cut chances and a lion’s share of possession, Kelvin Kaindu’s boys
flattered to deceive and came off with nothing.
The Zambian coach
came under excessive pressure as fans began to blame him, his tactics and
substitutions. The missed chances were squarely placed on his shoulders as the
general of the team. Among the various schools of thought, the team’s
predictability of the same style of play and formation le to an approach every
team expected from Bosso.
A direct blame of
inability to read the game and useless subbing times and material led the Bulawayo
giant faithfuls to take stock of how they could turn a record of nine losses
and seven draw in the two clubs’ last 16 matches.
There is even polite
advise for Kelvin Kaindu, that this was due time to pack the bags as he had
tried his best which was seen as not enough. One fan praised his
professionalism, believing that the gaffer sees the need to hand the button to
a man with new tactics and ideas.
Kaindu received
criticism of removing an ‘attacking box to box player in Manhanga’ with a
defensive midfielder in Ndiweni when the team needed offensive power. The
criticism extended to the reliance of the misfiring Njabulo Ncube, a tool whose
antidote was a three men central defence.
The bitter pill to
swallow, despite the loss of the points, the drop from the log summit and losing
a match to direct rivals, is that the loss was to Dynamos. Winning the championship
starts with victory over fellow contenders.
The biggest argument
came when many defended him for assembling a good team that failed to convert
easy chances and conceded the softest goal. Many think he should be coaching boys
basic technique at senior level as others thought Sibanda and Njabulo should
know what to do by now.
The truth, all
emotion aside, is that technique training starts at the age of 6 and ontinues
throughout the career of the professional. At this stage of the league, it
should be forming a great part of the sessions. However, even the best have a
bad day. If that day came against Dynamos, who is there to take the blame but
the coach.
Kaindu has few men
at his corner. Those baying for his blood do not know what they are talking
about. The bearers of that thought based it on the unfortunate players who
failed to convert chances that Kaindu drilled them through in training. The perpetrators
were the players and KK the victim. The players let the coach down.
The tense and
desperate situation created by the loss brought to the fore the fact that the
buck stopped with the coach as no coach ever saved his job by arguing that
players are missed chances. Despite the good effort in today’s match, the
players’ lacked the die-hard spirit resulting in faulting and lapse in
concentration.
Taking a punch in
the chin and accepting defeat because the players failed to take chances never
went well with many who looked at this one opportunity that looked promising
until that fateful kick that punished an otherwise better team in terms of
possession.
The day’s victors
leapfrogged Bosso together with league debutants, ZPC Kariba FC, as Highlanders’
goal drought steadily swells to four matches. The superstitious began to blame
the ground against Dynamos as it became the Harare’s fruitful ground, while
others think that Saturday never favoured the black and white outfit side. There
could be truth that an opportunity to take Dynamos to Luveve where they have
always lost could have brought different results.
The saddest part of
that game, was that it had become a fixture charged with emotion and the stakes
became higher given the connotations of the results. At whatever level and for
whatever reason, a match against Dynamos is bigger than the rewards. Any coach entrusted
with the club has a fans mandate to beat Dynamos.
That failure to do
so suddenly makes Kaindu a bad coach. The available players performed below par
in crucial areas and at vital moments, as any play can have a bad day, and in
this case, a single moment.
The desperate
nature of the desired result makes the next fixture against the champions even
harder for Kaindu or his successor. The players will try harder and fare
dismally. To add salt to injury, the fans will be frustrated and throw missiles
in the ground and cause fines that will milk the club dry.
That alone will
incapacitate the club to get better players and increased performances to
dismantle the Dynamos machine. If fans and supporters can throw missiles in the
field of play, surely, players are entitled to miss those chances. If that
barbarism is cool, what crime is there in not scoring a goal?
