good against a fellow Big
Three club, for the first time this season, at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Chitembwe was part of the Class of ’96, a benchmark for the Green Machine, which ended the Harare giants’ wait for their first post-independence league championship.
On the eve of the decisive game against Highlanders on Sunday, with the threat of relegation hanging over his team, Chitembwe rallied his troops to find pride in wearing the green jersey and used history, especially his Class of ’96, as a model for inspiration.
Chitembwe is the most decorated CAPS United player of all time, the only one to win three league titles in the colours of the Green Machine, and he was in the trenches when Makepekepe refused to be choked to their death in a decisive game against rivals Dynamos in ’96.
As time melted away, and CAPS United trailed Dynamos 0-1 in a blockbuster Harare Derby at Rufaro in the 23rd match of that season, the Green Machine dug deep into its reserves and were eventually rewarded in the dying moments.
History has since recorded that Mphumelelo Dzowa’s screamer, from a free-kick, crashed through the Dynamos defensive lines and found its target for a priceless point that blew away the Glamour Boys’ challenge.
That CAPS United eventually finished the championship race only three points better than Dynamos, put into perspective the significance of their refusal to be beaten that afternoon, given that victory would certainly have shattered Makepekepe and swung the pendulum in DeMbare’s favour. Sunday’s match against Bosso was CAPS United’s 22nd this season and, with his team sitting just five points better than the team occupying the last relegation slot, Chitembwe found similarities, in this battle for survival, to the one they fought for glory 15 years ago.
“Obviously, a lot has changed in terms of the players that we used to have then and the players that we have now and all the big teams, be it CAPS United, Dynamos or Highlanders, are feeling it because the pressure at these teams is unrelenting and the players we have today tend to be affected by that,” said Chitembwe.
“The pressure is intense every week, because the demand is for them to win every game, so in terms of spirit, yes, it still remains the same as it was in our playing time and we should try and find ways of winning our remaining matches.”
So when CAPS United, who had lost all their four matches against fellow members of the Big Three – Dynamos and Highlanders – slipped to a 0-1 deficit, within the first five minutes of their league match against Bosso on Sunday, the fans must have feared for the worst.
After two losses against Bosso, in the league and in the BancABC Sup8r Cup quarter-finals, without scoring, and two losses against Dynamos, in the league, where they had scored just once, the fans had reason to fear for the worst when Graham Ncube put Highlanders ahead early on Sunday.
Then, after Vincent Nzombe’s effort had been disallowed for offside, someone probably reminded the CAPS United that Chitembwe had demanded passion from his men and, if they couldn’t respond at home, their fate was certainly going to be sealed.
Ashley Rambanapasi, who knows how it feels like to win a league championship in the CAPS United colours, brought them level and further goals from Pride Tafirenyika and Evans Gwekwerere gave the Green Machine victory. Incredibly, it was the first time CAPS United had beaten either Dynamos or Highlanders this season and the first time the Green Machine had scored more than two goals since their 5-1 destruction of Kiglon during the first half of the season.
Gwekwerere scored his third goal, in as many games, since Chitembwe returned for a second spell as CAPS United coach after his double beat Kiglon in the coach’s first game in charge at Gwanzura. The victory over Bosso took CAPS United seven points clear of the drop zone and, crucially, just five points behind Chicken Inn, who are in fifth place on the table and, technically, still in the race for the league title. There is still a lot of work to be done but CAPS United, who leaked goals when Chitembwe was called in to try and steady the ship, have just conceded two goals, in 270 minutes, under the new coach. CAPS United’s authorities took a gamble, to have their match on Sunday when it was clear that the counter-attraction posed by the Gunners/Dynamos tie would hit them hard on the pocket with reduced gate receipts. But, as club vice-president Farai Jere explained yesterday, the points were more important, at this stage of the season, than proceeds from gate receipts.

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