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Norman Mapeza

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
WHEN Norman Mapeza guided his men to a crushing 3-0 win over Highlanders in the penultimate match of last season’s campaign, it ended a wretched run stretching for half-a-dozen years, in which FC Platinum stumbled on that hurdle in their quest for the immortality of becoming league champions. Tomorrow, Mapeza and his troops — who took full control of this championship race on Wednesday — need to borrow a leaf from their show in destroying Bosso last year for them to move a step closer towards finally realising their dream of becoming champions of Zimbabwe football.

Last year, their destruction of Bosso ultimately counted for nothing as CAPS United won their final two league matches against Ngezi Platinum and Chapungu at Ascot — where FC Platinum will visit in the last game of their campaign this year for a date against Midlands rivals Chapungu — to be crowned champions for the first time in more than a decade. FC Platinum are bidding to become the first club from outside Harare and Bulawayo to win the league title in 51 years and assumed control of the marathon when they edged a battling Tsholotsho 1-0 in Bulawayo on Wednesday while Ngezi Platinum were held to a 2-2 draw by Chicken Inn at Baobab.

The two results saw Mapeza and his troops establishing a two-point cushion at the top of the table and they could be crowned champions at Mandava tomorrow should they beat Ngezi Platinum and Dynamos fail to win their match against Bantu Rovers in Bulawayo. A draw in Mandava, coupled with a Dynamos victory over Bantu Rovers, will see DeMbare taking pole position, by virtue of a vastly-superior goal difference, and needing to beat Chicken Inn in Harare in their final match for them to be complete a sensational smash-and-grab mission in a year in which they have proved a number of analysts wrong by punching above their weight.

Such a scenario, for the Zvishavane miners, will certainly evoke bitter memories of FC Platinum’s sensational collapse six years ago when DeMbare came to Maglas, in the penultimate match of the campaign, and beat their hosts 1-0 to virtually seal the first of their four straight league titles. FC Platinum have, generally, fared poorly in the penultimate game of their league championship campaign, usually with disastrous consequences for their bid to transform themselves into champions, with the Zvishavane side falling 0-1 to DeMbare in 2011 when a draw would have been enough for them to be crowned kings the following week.

The club’s leadership back then had even set the stage for their coronation, confident they would complete the mission as a victory would have seen them being crowned champions with a game to spare, they even invited a number of the community’s traditional leaders for the after-match party while also buying space in a supplement in a Bulawayo Sunday newspaper congratulating themselves as champions. Maybe, in retrospect, they had a reason to be so confident. After all, in the countdown to that match, FC Platinum, then under the guidance of Rahman Gumbo, had won eight of their 11 home matches and had drawn three others and, with just one loss at home all season when they fell 0-3 at the hands of Gunners, they looked virtually unbeatable in their backyard. But the Glamour Boys spoiled their party and, to even make matters worse, they didn’t even need to score a goal in that game as the goal that finally divided the two sides was an own goal scored by FC Platinum defender Daniel Veremu.

With goal difference still a factor in the race ahead of the final round of matches, the Shooting Stars duo of club president Joel Sengeredo and chairman Lewis Matindife were summoned by the police where they were told of the possible grim repercussions of their team throwing their final home match against FC Platinum at Gwanzura.

As it turned out, Shooting Stars lost that match 1-3 but FC Platinum’s win was not enough to help them beat a Dynamos side, which beat Kiglon 2-0 in their final match on the same day, in the championship race with the Glamour Boys being crowned champions by virtue of a superior goal difference. It also started a mini-dynasty for the Glamour Boys who went to win the next three league titles as Callisto Pasuwa became the first coach to guide them to four consecutive league championships.

After their collapse in 2011, FC Platinum also lost 0-1 at the hands of Highlanders in Week 29 of the campaign before a 2-2 draw with Buffaloes followed the following year in another Week 29 fixture and the Zvishavane miners also dropped two crucial points in Week 29 of the race in 2015 when they were held to a 1-1 draw by CAPS United at Mandava.

Tomorrow, FC Platinum host Ngezi Platinum in a crucial showdown which could shape their season and some of the club’s fans will be hoping that their team’s tendency to choke in the penultimate match of the campaign will not come to haunt them. CAPS United coach Lloyd Chitembwe has already backed FC Platinum to be crowned champions this year. A local football pundit, Spencer Manguwa, also predicted last month, when the championship still had seven matches to be played, that FC Platinum will be champions this year. He predicted the Zvishavane side would end with 72 points, the tally they could get if they win both their remaining two matches, and that Dynamos will finish second, two points behind. All his five predictions related to FC Platinum have come true.

“From my predictions, I think FC Platinum will finally make history this time around by winning this league championship race by two points with Dynamos finishing second two points behind,’’ he wrote in an article published in this newspaper on October 5. I, somehow, correctly predicted in my analysis that the match between FC Platinum and the Green Machine (at Mandava) would end in a draw even though I wasn’t so sure it would that dramatic with the champions scoring a late equaliser.

“FC Platinum, in my analysis, will collect 19 out of the remaining 21 points and that will also take their points tally to 72 and they will win the championship by two points. I believe the Zvishavane miners will beat Highlanders away from home (which they did), beat Shabanie at home (which they did), draw against Harare City away from home (which happened), beat ZPC Kariba at Maglas (which they did last weekend) (He also believes they will) beat Tsholotsho away from home (which they did on Wednesday), beat Ngezi Platinum at home and also beat Chapungu away from home in their final match. The six wins and one draw should power FC Platinum to 72 points and, finally, in my humble analysis, they will be crowned champions.’’

MANGUWA’S PREDICTED FINAL TOP THREE

P W D L Pts

FC Platinum 34 20 12 2 72 CHAMPS

Dynamos 34 21 7 6 70

Ngezi Platinum 34 20 7 7 67