‘they can go to hell’ -caps skipper blasts fans who abused players BORROWED ALLIANCE . . . CAPS United fans show their support for ZPC Kariba during the two teams' clash in a league match at Gwanzura on Sunday
BORROWED ALLIANCE . . . CAPS United fans show their support for ZPC Kariba during the two teams' clash in a league match at Gwanzura on Sunday

BORROWED ALLIANCE . . . CAPS United fans show their support for ZPC Kariba during the two teams’ clash in a league match at Gwanzura on Sunday

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor— 
CAPS United skipper Tapiwa Khumbuyani has lashed out at rogue elements, among their supporters, who jeered at them as they powered their way to a win over ZPC Kariba on the final day of the Castle Lager Premiership marathon. The Green Machine captain said those fans were out of touch with the demands of the professional game.

Khumbuyani and his troops, who have for the last two seasons been saluted for observing Fair Play tenets, turned on the power on championship-title aspirants ZPC Kariba at Gwanzura to emerge 3-2 winners and seal a third-place finish.

But their impressive show at Gwanzura, whose result also swung the championship pendulum in favour of Dynamos, did not go down well with some CAPS United fans, some of whom threw missiles at their players with veteran goalkeeper Tafadzwa Dube the main target for his superb saves.

In the build-up to the Super Sunday fixtures, the hooligans had threatened physical action against CAPS United coach Taurai Mangwiro if he plotted ZPC Kariba’s downfall.

Mangwiro was not at Gwanzura as he was attending a Fifa coaches’ instructors course in Cameroon, but his assistant Mike Madzivanyika still orchestrated the ZPC Kariba downfall with a polished show that also served as good advertisement of the quality of the Premiership.

Although some of their fans could not stomach a scenario where CAPS United, for the second year running, found themselves playing a part in DeMbare’s ultimate triumph, Khumbuyani argued that “it is madness to suggest that we won the championship for Dynamos.

“Dynamos won the title for themselves and we secured third place for ourselves because the league is won after 30 games and not just by one match.

“Are those supporters saying all those points that Dynamos collected in their wins and draws during the season do not matter now?

“I think all those who were trying to harass us or intimidate us are archaic and have no place in our football because what they were asking us to do was to probably fix the match and match-fixing is a serious crime.

“It is sad that some people are suggesting that we played for Dynamos and I am sure the same people would have said we had been paid money to lose the game if ZPC had beaten us.

“I believe if ZPC were good enough to beat CAPS United, they should have won on that day.

“Teams should know that the championship is not won on a silver platter. As players we have careers to protect and we are professionals. We are not in this game to throw away matches just to please some supporters’ ego and then suffer when we get banned.

“We must learn to grow in football and I must say I was really disappointed as captain to see our own supporters throw missiles at us for winning a match,” said Khumbu- yani.

The 31-year-old defender also rued what he felt was CAPS United’s big chance to win the 2014 title and reckoned that Makepekepe had virtually shot themselves in the foot.

Rarely have CAPS United come so closer to the title in the last five years and Khumbuyani argued that their third place finish was testimony of the strength of the squad which Mangwiro had assembled.

“This has been our best run in many years, including the three-and-a-half years I have been at CAPS, and I would like to salute the coaches and my players for fighting very hard under difficult circumstances.’’

Khumbuyani, who has previously seen Premiership action with teams like Chapungu, Monomotapa and Blue Ribbon, pointed to the games in which they failed to win because of in-house problems at the club and suggested that it was the turning point to their campaign.

“When you closely analyse it, you will see that we lost some vital points on those away games where we had squabbles and strikes before travelling and we lost our focus.

“I am talking about the trip to Bantu Rovers and the trips to Chapungu, Shabanie Mine and Triangle.

“I think we could have managed to get at least five points from those matches and that would have made a big difference because we finished four points behind the team that won the league.

“If you also look at the top four teams — Dynamos, ZPC Kariba, CAPS United and FC Platinum — I think we are the worst in terms of player welfare, yet we managed to do well which shows the players’ commitment and the fact that we have a talented squad that is why I still feel we should have been the champions.

“Most teams that struggle financially actually get demoted but we challenged for the title.

“Now we will turn our focus on the Mbada Diamonds Cup and we hope we can keep the same form because we just need to play brilliantly for two games and you win the Cup’’.

Khumbuyani also dismissed the notion that CAPS United may have found it easier to overcome ZPC Kariba because they were not under any pressure.

“We had the pressure of wanting to finish third because there is a little more money in doing that. In any case, we had been playing well and consistently this year.

“In fact as footballers we are always under pressure from all angles, on the pitch at home and in society in general,’’ Khumbuyani said.

The CAPS United skipper, whose contract runs out on December 31, is hopeful that club’s chiefs will retain the squad that did duty this season.

“If we can have continuity with this squad, I believe next year we can achieve even bigger things but that is for the board to decide.

“I think the biggest improvement we need is that of player welfare because things were not so rosy this year’’.

Interestingly, some of the players who left the Green Machine because of frustrations over their working conditions, were the ones who were at the heart of ZPC Kariba’s sensational challenge for the league championship this year.

ZPC Kariba coach Saul Chaminuka was in the CAPS United coaching team last year and he recruited a number of players, from his old team, who helped turn the Premiership newboys into the toast of the top-flight league.

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