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Sunday Chidzambwa

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
IS ZPC Kariba coach Sunday Chidzambwa carving in to the pressure in this year’s tightly contested Premiership?

The veteran coach has threatened to walk away from the team if he does not get positive responses from his players following their lifeless displays in their last three matches.

It’s not the first time they have experienced a rough patch this year and Chidzambwa is not happy with the way the team has been losing ground in the marathon.

The 0-1 defeat by CAPS United on Sunday pushed the legendary Zimbabwe coach to consider quitting the club.

The loss was preceded by lifeless 0-0 draws against How Mine and Yadah Stars, which left the Kariba side eighth on the log standings and 11 points adrift of leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars.

“Our problem is we are not fighting. I am going to talk to the players. If they don’t want to fight, then I may as well resign. We have very good players. The only thing we have to do is fight for three points,” said Chidzambwa.

“I think we also had some new youngsters in there. We didn’t fight. You don’t win games when you don’t fight. You must put maximum effort. Our players are not doing that.

“As a result I get the flak and get fired. If they are not prepared to fight I will go away. Maybe, they want someone who they can fight for.

“I mean look at CAPS United, you can count on maybe three or four players, but everybody was fighting, everybody wanted to win.

“They were chasing after every ball whether defensive or offensive. They were chasing for everything, but ours (were) too nice.”

ZPC Kariba will host Highlanders in their next match at Nyamhunga tomorrow, hoping for a turnaround of fortunes. The race is getting tough in the top half of the table after Ngezi Platinum wrestled their way back to the summit with a 2-1 win over How Mine.

Tonderai Ndiraya’s men now have 40 points in the bag.

They swapped places with Chicken Inn, who took control of the race last week after thrashing defending champions CAPS United 3-1.

But a 1-1 draw at FC Platinum in a top-of-the-table clash meant they could only move to 39 points.

Giants Dynamos also managed to get maximum points in the 1-0 win over Black Rhinos to move one place up to third, equal on points with FC Platinum, but having a superior goal difference in their favour.

All the teams will be back in action tomorrow, with DeMbare likely to revert to the National Sports Stadium in their match against Hwange if they fail to agree with the organisers on the possibility of a double header also featuring the match between Harare City and Shabanie Mine.

Both matches have provisionally been set for Rufaro though.

CAPS United travel to Beitbridge for a date against winless Tsholotsho.

The champions finally remembered how to win when they edged ZPC Kariba after a poor run of five matches without winning.

“We just have to adapt to it. These games are coming two per week because of the good work we did by winning the title last year and the progression into the mini-league of the Champions League this year.

“But we will embrace it and we love it. That’s part of football. In other countries in Europe, teams play two or three times a week, depending on the country. That’s what it is with modern football. We are not going to make excuses about it.

“We take it (one) game at a time, step by step.

“The journey is long because there are more games to be played. We are not getting carried away by this victory. The next target is the next game on Thursday,” said Kwashi.

Fixtures

Wednesday

FC Platinum v Bulawayo City (Mandava), Ngezi Platinum v Yadah (Baobab), Chapungu v How Mine (Ascot), Chicken Inn v Triangle ( Luveve), Bantu Rovers v Black Rhinos (White City), Harare City v Shabanie Mine (Rufaro, 1pm), Dynamos v Hwange (Rufaro, TBA), ZPC Kariba v Highlanders (Nyamhunga), Tsholotsho v CAPS United (Dulivhadzimo)