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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
CAPS United coach Lloyd Chitembwe, who has always challenged his players that they should strive to play for the Warriors, revealed yesterday that he was charmed by the shift that Hardlife Zvirekwi put in for the national team on Easter Monday.

Zvirekwi was impressive for the Warriors in their 4-0 destruction of Swaziland and showed that he is a quality player and this could be a big season for him.

“We were excited by his performance. He showed a lot of character not many players can do that,” said Chitembwe as he addressed a media briefing in Harare yesterday ahead of their season-opener against Chapungu in a Castle Lager Premiership tie at the National Sports Stadium.

CAPS United are seeking to get off to a flying start by ending Chapungu’s dominance over them when they meet in the first league match of the season at the giant stadium.

The Gweru side beat Makepekepe in back-to-back matches last year.

After eight weeks of pre-season training, which also saw them featuring in some friendly matches against Mozambican top-flight teams, Chitembwe feels his troops are ready.

“We do respect Chapungu. They have a decent group of players but I also think we equally have a very good group of players and we have quality and I am sure we should be able to take care of the situation,” said Chitembwe.

“Just like any other team, this is one game that have taken us very long to prepare.

“It took us precisely eight weeks to prepare for this game so we have done very well as far as preparations are concerned.

“Personally, we have had quite a credible preparatory phase and we are just ready and motivated to see how well we can do.”

Chitembwe said he is not going to succumb to pressure from any quarters.

“What we have made very clear is that we want to be competitive. For us, me in particular, the pressure that I expect the most is that pressure within me, that of wanting to do well, that is the pressure that I respect so much,” said Chitembwe.

“The outside pressure, sometimes you don’t have control over that so at the end of the day it is not as important as the pressure that is within me.

“So we want to do well this season.

“The championship is the ultimate prize. You cannot win the championship before the season starts neither can you win the championships before you win games so for us the most important thing is to win games and this is our primary target, to win the games, and eventually we would be happy with the ultimate prize.”

Each player, Chitembwe says, knows what is expected from him.

“I am sure the players know what we want and what we expect from them. We expect them, one, to show the kind of technical fitness that we expect from them.

“To show the kind of physical fitness what we expect from them, to show us the kind of tactical astuteness that we expect from them and also to be professional in their conduct on and off the pitch and once we have that, those are ingredients of a competitive side,” he said.

The coach will have to fish from his large pool of players as new players such as skipper Method Mwanjali, Archford Gutu, Abbas Amidu, Allen Gahadzikwa, goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda, Devon Chafa, Tafadzwa Rusike, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Dennis Dauda and Cabby Kamhapa have come on board.

Regular players from last season like Stephen Makatuka, Zvikomborero Biseki, Leonard Tsipa, Dominic Chungwa and Chris Mverechena are also battling for a place in the team.

For the opening match the team is likely to miss veteran forward Tsipa and young defender Biseki who are injured.

The duo of Simba Nhivi and the skipper will have to pass a late fitness test.