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Tadious Manyepo

Sports Reporter

HARARE giants CAPS United are set to unleash a new weapon in the second half of the season after signing forward Emmanuel Mandiranga ahead of tomorrow’s Castle Lager Premiership football clash with Black Rhinos at the National Sports Stadium.

CAPS United chief executive officer, Charlie Jones, yesterday said they have secured the services of the pacy winger after protracted negotiations.

Mandiranga has since been cleared by Harare City.

“We have signed Mandiranga on a three-year contract. He has been cleared by his previous club and we are happy that the deal has sailed through. We are working on two more players and we will publish the details once we are through with the negotiations, probably on Monday,” said Jones.

It was not clear, however, if the forward would be available for selection tomorrow. Makepekepe are also chasing the signatures of Blessing Sarupinda and Ali Sadiki during the current transfer window. They have vacancies in their side after the club sacked four players recently for their roles in a mutiny.

One of the sacked players Dennis Dauda is now at Rhinos. After his unceremonious departure from CAPS United a month ago, defender Dennis Dauda returns to face the giants this time in Black Rhinos colours when the teams face off in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League tie at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow.

Dauda was expelled from the Green Machine after he was accused of inciting other players into a crippling protest over financial issues.

At the height of the strike, Makepekepe almost failed to fulfil their game against Cranborne Bullets which finished 2-0 in favour of the latter.

The CAPS United leadership reacted by firing Dauda and the duo of Clive Augusto and goalkeeper Simba Chinani.

Dauda was immediately snatched by Black Rhinos but that was after Makepekepe had tried in vain to lure him back as the giants wanted to pardon him.

And Dauda will come face to face with Makepekepe tomorrow with the defender saying he doesn’t have any hard feelings against his former club.

With the Green Machine likely to unleash their new acquisition Mandiranga, Dauda and his defensive partners will have to be at their best.

“I don’t have any hard feelings against CAPS United. This is a team that gave me so much in my career but one thing for certain is that I play for Black Rhinos and we want to win this match,” said Dauda.

“I don’t count much on how well I know their system. They can change and we just have to count on ourselves.

“The match will be very tough from the way I see it. The team who will make fewer mistakes will win the game.

“CAPS United are a big team and they may be having a bad period but they remain a tough opponent.

“We need to be at our best to win this game. We have a capable group of players who are raring to go.

“We have our goals in this league and we should win games like this if we entertain hopes of attaining our targets as a team.

“We need to be ourselves, play as we train, push hard and seize all the opportunities that come our way.”

Dauda said he would like to continue with a winning formula after his debut for Rhinos ended in a 2-1 win over Herentals last week.

“Winning my first game for Rhinos was what I always wanted. The win against Herentals was good given the match was very tough.

“I hope the winning form continues starting with the match against CAPS United.”

His coach Herbert “Jompano” Maruwa said his team should be wary of Makepekepe.

“CAPS United are a big brand. We have all the respect for them. They are not in top form at the moment but we should not read much into that. Remember they are coming from a win over Harare City and they can really come up hard against us,” said Maruwa.

“We know it’s going to be a tough match and we have prepared for them. We need to be clinical and minimise mistakes.”