Fans blast Bosso after losing to DeMbare

EXACTLY 23 years, 10 months to last Saturday, Willard Khumalo walked past the National Sports Stadium podium as the winner of the Zimbabwe FA Cup.

He had been flown from Germany where he was plying his trade with former Bosso teammates Madinda Ndlovu and Tito Paketh to bolster the midfield which had Rahman Gumbo, the late Benjamin Nkonjera and Benjamin "Matambanadzo" Mpofu.

On that beautiful November afternoon, Bosso, inspired by the late Adam Ndlovu, a hattrick hero on the day, beat Dynamos 3-1 at the same venue to complete a historic league and cup double.

Khumalo, now team manager, cut a lone figure on Saturday walking up the podium to pick up his losers' medal and those of executive members who did not bother to collect theirs probably protesting mediocrity.

Club chairman Peter Dube, who had flown on the same flight with Khumalo on that successful raid in the capital in November of 1990, was there on Saturday. He was not the supporter who had sacrificed for his maiden flight on Matojeni to watch a team brimming with confidence but he had gone this time as club boss.

His 1990 visit to the stadium podium, a few metres from President Mugabe, was to spark his firing from refereeing. A fellow match official had seen a picture of him clad in a Liverpool "Candy' jersey celebrating the feat and taken up that with authorities. This was to mark a shift to club administration for Dube who initially lost the post of Highlanders secretary to Roger Muhlwa in 1992 before getting it right in 1994.

His first year landed him the BP League Cup and league runners-up medal and when he returned to the secretary's post in 1998 to 2000 he laid the foundation for four consecutive league championships of which he won the first in the 1998/99 season with a squad in which current coach Kelvin Kaindu was part of.

But on Saturday tears of disappointment filled his eyes as he walked up to collect another second best medal to Dynamos. He was in pain, embarrassed and knowing answers and solutions are now high up on the agenda to save the club from further embarrassment.

Like Kaindu, he is yet to celebrate a win over bitter rivals Dynamos and should be asking more questions. His executive has bought the best players money can buy in the land and on paper it is one of the best teams to don the black and white colours.

The Saturday loss, 4-1 to be exact, marked another bad afternoon for Highlanders coaches. They seem to be running out of ideas as shown on Wednesday afternoon against Buffaloes.

In that game, they were heard calling for club marshals to take away Buffaloes goal keeper Blessing Mandimutsira's towel and bottle of water from the nets. This was after they had failed to find the back of the net and it surely showed to fans and media seated within earshot that the guys have run out of ideas.

In the TM Pick ‘n Pay Challenge final at the giant National Sports Stadium, they appeared to have got their cards wrong with team selection. Ariel Sibanda started off badly and was very exposed by a jittery defence of Erick Mudzingwa, Bruce Kangwa, Dumisani Ndlovu and Innocent Mapuranga.

With Dynamos opening a highway on the right flank where South African reject Tafadzwa Rusike shone like a beacon, matters were made worse by Hillary Madzivanyika who was below par.

The twin strikers Charles Sibanda and Njabulo Ncube were just not in it. They lacked the urgency expected at that level of competition.
In a bid to plug pores in midfield, Kaindu introduced Rahman Kutsanzira, a move that did not help the Bosso cause.

In simple terms save for Ariel and Felix Chindungwe, the rest of the team including the technical staff were pathetic.
Highlanders' championship hopes are fading with each match with no clues from both the players and coaches. Soon it will be the team's management.

Football legend Ebson Muguyo believes it should be back to basics for the club. He says all successful Bosso teams dating back to the 1970s were powered by wing play, visionary midfielders who supported strikers with the numbers needed in opposition territory.

"It's simple with Highlanders. Just like Zimbabwe Saints and Dynamos, they were strong on wing play and once the dazzling wingers excited fans, no team could stop Highlanders on their day. That tradition is no more, they are playing at the centre and failing to get supporters cheering," said Muguyo.

True to his word, when Khumalo won the Zifa Cup in 1990 at the same stadium, legendary Peter Ndlovu had a good day on the left flank terrorising Angirai Chapo at will.

Another season looks set to go by without Highlanders picking up anything tangible to add to their once impressive trophy cabinet.
Second best has not been good enough and the less than 2,000 Bosso fans that witnessed Saturday's nightmare at the National Sports Stadium, illustrated that club faithfuls are staying away from the club's matches.

Without a big following at their matches they would be an ordinary side and at the rate at which things are going unless the riot act is read, they could find themselves battling for a top eight finish instead of the championship.

The present crop of players seem not to have what made legends Madinda Ndlovu, Peter Nkomo, Peter Ndlovu, the late Mercedes Sibanda, Zenzo Moyo and Thabani Masawi household names. These players would take the game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen as individuals or as a team.

In the last few games, only Chindungwe, assigned to bench warming from the beginning of the year after his high profile move from Chicken Inn, appears to know what it means to don the Highlanders jersey.

Most of the players seem to lack the big match temperament.

Another school of thought is that the players are too comfortable with good salaries from BancABC whereas in the past the motivation came from good winning bonuses and not salaries.

A number appear happy to stay squad members and not fighting to be in the first team and earn winning bonuses.

After Mudzingwa's appalling showing on the right, the technical team's failure to correct problems on the right back position since 2012 were exposed. Every transfer window that factor has been emphasized and coaches appear to make token initiatives and get players that they will keep in the team to pacify fans and management.

Lewis Ncube, a club junior and Lawson Nkomo, Twalumba's Alois Muroyiwa and Atlast Musasa, who was very combative and effective in defending, were released in favour of experiments with Simon Munawa and Mudzingwa.

Harare-based Bosso supporter, Lindela Tshuma was disappointed with the result.
"We just did not come to the party. It was a pathetic showing by all standards," he said.

Allen Moyo, another man who rarely misses Highlanders matches around the country, put the blame squarely on the technical team.
"They are rigid and poor strategists. The first 11 was not convincing, some of the players are Division Two material. We have become the laughing stock of Dynamos supporters," he said.

Moses Chunga, the Dynamos legend, had a lighter moment with Bosso board member Luke Mnkandla.

"Aaah 4-1, you tried. At least you scored a goal, remember I beat you with my Kidznet 5-0," said Chunga refusing to be drawn on the team's technical inadequacies.

Many in the stadium including prominent music promoter and Harare businessman Josh Hozheri who attended college in Bulawayo, felt short changed.

"This is not what we expect of Highlanders. We grew up watching closely contested matches between the two clubs but this Highlanders is disappointing," he said.

To rescue their championship ambitions, the players will have to do some self-introspection with their coaches and try to up their game and self-belief.

Those that have won runners-up medals with Highlanders in the past two seasons should count themselves lucky in that they probably owe it to patronage at the club not their quality.

For those on the other side of 30 who include Mapuranga, Ndlovu, Chindungwe, Njabulo Ncube, Njabulo Nyoni and Mthulisi Maphosa, the pressure is definitely on for them to win silverware.