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IT’S a fact that Kelvin Kaindu never finished with fewer points than the football team that won the domestic Premier League championship, in the two seasons he lasted the distance, as coach of Highlanders in 2012 and 2013.
His Bosso outfit finished with 69 points, the same as champions Dynamos, in 2012, losing just one league game all year, to tie the record set by the great CAPS United Class of 2004.

They went for 23 league games, without defeat, became the first team, in the era of the modern Premiership, to go the whole season without losing a home match, drawing THREE and winning TWELVE of their FIFTEEN home games, including winning all their last EIGHT home ties, with the 7-1 massacre of Quelaton the highlight.

Kaindu guided Bosso to success in the Mbada Diamonds Cup last year, their first major all-inclusive silverware in half-a-dozen years, and they would have been back in the CAF Confederation Cup this year had they not been serving a ban for a crime that they did not commit.

This looks an impressive report card but, last week, Kaindu terminated his relationship with Highlanders, amid a tsunami of pressure from fans who felt that he had lost both his touch and direction and no longer represented the coach that a club like Bosso could invest its trust in for a successful future.

Why did this marriage, which initially looked like one made in heaven, disintegrate in such spectacular fashion with so many people, in the Bosso corner, apparently delighted that it had come to a premature end, happy that the hail of missiles at Hartsfield had worked the magic?

Why is the breakdown of his relationship with Bosso cheering his army of critics, led by Ezra “Tshisa” Sibanda, who led a vicious online crusade, against the coach, questioning his credentials to run the club, his commitment to the team and, crucially, his respect for such an institution?

The brutality of this game, where there is no room to celebrate, let alone remember, those who come second, means that Kaindu will not be remembered as a legendary Bosso coach and, just like Reuben Tsengwa, Mohammed Fathi and Mr Cooper Mkhuphali Masuku, the Zambian will not have a special place reserved for him, in the corner reserved for this team’s greatest gaffers.

Kaindu, and the club’s leadership, who foolishly gave him the green-light to pursue the advancement of his coaching credentials in the UK, at the expense of the wider interests of this football club, suffered from a virus that not only blinded them from seeing the bigger picture, to first serve Bosso and all that it represents, but made them treat this institution with a sickening lack of respect.

That in his absence, while pursuing personal interests at a time when the club’s interests should have dwarfed everything else, Bosso dropped two big points in a disappointing draw against a Motor Action side that would be relegated and, significantly, received a 0-4 whipping, at the hands of Harare City, in the dying embers of the race, paints the picture of a coach who had lost respect for this institution.

But, even more damaging, if not downright stupid, was that the club’s leadership gave Kaindu the freedom to miss pre-season training this year, again with his pursuit of his UEFA B coaching badge being given preference, at a time when Bosso had brought in about seven players on board — Khumbulani Banda, Felix Chindungwe, Valentine Ndaba, Charles Sibanda, Joel Ngodzo, Welcome Ndiweni and Rahman Kutsanzira.

How the Bosso leadership believed these players would be eased into their system, when the head coach was being given the luxury to miss the initiation period simply because he believed that boosting his coaching credentials was more important than planning for this season, defies logic and pronounces, loud and clear, their complicity in the mess that this institution finds itself in.

Inevitably, when he returned, to preside over a team that he barely knew given the big changes in its manpower, Highlanders lost the Bob 90 Super Cup final to Dynamos.

THE PATHETIC RECORD THAT NAILED KAINDU
In head-to-head matches, against the team whose identity represents the ultimate rival for Highlanders fans, against a young coach who, just like him, is still trying to find his way in the tough world of coaching, Kaindu was not only clueless but, certainly, hopeless.

He wasn’t employed to beat Dynamos but, as he probably now knows as he begins the survey of the wreckage of his dream job, he certainly knows that it was important to do so, for the sake of the fans who suffer so much whenever they lose to the ultimate enemy.

In 11 matches against the Glamour Boys, in a space of three years, Kaindu presided over EIGHT losses, THREE draws and didn’t win a match in League and Cup matches, as pathetic a record by a Highlanders coach, in the battles of the two giants of Zimbabwean football, as will ever be recorded.

His Bosso team scored just FOUR goals, in those ELEVEN matches, and conceded SIXTEEN, including a 1-6 aggregate humiliation, in the two-legged Bob89 Super Cup.

In SIX league matches against the ultimate enemy, Kaindu failed to win a game, drew three, the first three league games he faced the Glamour Boys, lost THREE, saw his team score THREE goals, concede SIX, and get a paltry THREE points out of a possible EIGHTEEN for a depressing success/failure rate of only 16.66 percent.

In FIVE Cup games, the script was even grim with Kaindu failing to win or draw a game and losing all FIVE matches, scoring just one goal, in that 1-6 aggregate loss in the Bob89 Super Cup and conceding TEN goals at an average of TWO goals per game.

Interestingly, just before Kaindu’s arrival to take over as Bosso coach at the beginning of 2012, Highlanders had powered to a memorable penalty shoot-out victory over their old enemy to win the Independence Cup.

Kaindu Versus Pasuwa All Matches
P W D L F A
Pasuwa 11 8 3 0 16 4
Kaindu 11 0 3 8 4 16

Kaindu Versus Pasuwa League Matches
P W D L F A Pts
Pasuwa 6 3 3 0 6 3 12
Kaindu 6 0 3 3 3 6 3

Pasuwa Success Rate — 66.66 percent
Kaindu Failure/Success Rate — 16.66 percent
Points Lost By Both Teams From Draws — 16.66 percent

Kaindu Versus Pasuwa Cup Games
P W D L F A
Pasuwa 5 5 0 0 10 1
Kaindu 5 0 0 5 1 10
Pasuwa Success Rate — 100 percent
Kaindu Failure/Success Rate — ZERO percent.

PASUWA WALKING A DANGEROUS PATH
Ultimately, Kaindu was consumed by the weight of trying to juggle the complex double task of furthering his coaching education and handling one of the toughest jobs in domestic football, where the pressure for success is immense, and where coming second is considered a failed mission.

Pasuwa, unfortunately, is at risk of being consumed, too, by the weight of trying to juggle the complex double task of leading the revival of the Warriors, and handling the toughest job in domestic football, where the pressure for success is relentless, and where coming second might be the quickest way for a divorce settlement.

One of the big stories, which wasn’t part of the media’s post-mortem this week in the wake of Dynamos’ stunning loss, in the NetOne OneWallet Cup final to underdogs Triangle, was that none of our journalists factored the impact that Pasuwa’s absence, from the Glamour Boys, for a good four days of the week leading to that match.

This means Pasuwa was only with his team, which on the basis of their flat, if not lifeless, performance against Shabanie in a league match, needed a lot of guidance, with a number of areas being worked on, ahead of their NetOne OneWallet Cup final against a dangerous underdog, for only one day.

Having spent the better part of the week travelling across the continent, and being lectured in Cairo on what African national team coaches could learn from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, it meant Pasuwa had little time to deal with house issues of a team that was battling with injuries, a rebellious Rodreck Mutuma unhappy with being substituted in the Shabanie game, and any opponent that was turning draws, in this tournament, into an art that they specialised in.

Given that all the pressure was on Dynamos, if Triangle lost on Sunday people would say so what, if they won, as they did, then it was a huge story, and all the baggage from the controversy emanating from that league match, which DeMbare won, triggering an outburst from Biggie Zuze that coaching the Glamour Boys was the easiest job in the league, because of a helping hand from referees, the expectation would have been that Pasuwa would pay a lot of attention to detail in preparing for this game.

But we can’t blame him, national duty called and he responded because, had he said no, he would have been savaged as a man who doesn’t care for his country, and by saying yes, he started a dangerous journey that has complicated issues, in terms of splitting his attention between club and country with one of the two parties, as Dynamos found out on Sunday, bound to suffer.

Interestingly, DeMbare’s last loss, in a league match, came against Hwange, shortly after Pasuwa had spent most of his time with the Warriors, when he was assistant coach to Ian Gorowa, ahead of the 2015 Nations Cup qualifier against Tanzania in Harare.

Next week, after a tough away trip to Buffaloes, and ahead of a tricky home tie against Chapungu, Pasuwa will be away for four days — just as was the case last week — with his Young Warriors scheduled to take on Swaziland in an international friendly in Mbabane.

At least, the alibi here is that the ZPC Kariba coach, Saul Chaminuka, will also be away in Swaziland, as Pasuwa’s assistant, but as we all know, the pressure of coaching Kariba, and the expectations that this club carries, are nowhere near the pressure that comes with taking charge of Dynamos, and the expectations that this club carries.

And, lest we forget, it’s very possible either CAPS United or Highlanders could chew into that lead, enjoyed by Dynamos and ZPC Kariba this weekend, and with their coaches not involved with national team assignments, and one of them with so much to prove after being handed the job until the end of the season, this picture could change dramatically.

Which, of course, brings me to my old argument — national team jobs should be full-time jobs, for those coaches we appoint, because it’s the only way to avoid loading too much weight on just a few individuals.

To God Be The Glory!
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Di Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
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