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Moses Chunga

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter—
LEGENDARY Moses Chunga has given the biggest hint yet that the Highlanders technical bench of Kelvin Kaindu and Mark Mathe might not have the clout to deliver the club its first league title since 2006. Chunga, now Buffaloes head coach, insinuated that the two don’t have the clout, charisma and stamina to lead a great institution like Highlanders to the Promised Land.

The former Dynamos and national team dribbling wizard was speaking to Chronicle Sport in a brief interview after his charges held Highlanders to a nil all draw at Hartsfield Grounds on Wednesday afternoon.

He said his charges were not intimidated by their more illustrious opponents and with a bit of luck, they might have grabbed all the three points.

Asked whether he felt Bosso were still a fiery side just like during their time as players where opponents were literally bullied before the match and scared to death, Chunga first laughed at the mention of fiery before giving his candid assessment of Highlanders.

“You know, when a pride of lions is led by a sheep, no one gets scared by those lions because they could probably be toothless unlike when a lion leads a flock of sheep, everyone notices. I hope you get what I’m driving at,” said the 2009 championship winning coach with Gunners.

With the two points dropped, Bosso find themselves three points behind their fiercest rivals Dynamos who sailed past Chiredzi 2-0 through a Roderick Mutuma brace.

Bosso coach Kaindu still believes the championship race is still wide open, despite the sobering reality that their fate is no longer in their hands. The championship is for Dynamos to lose as things stand.

Highlanders have now drawn an incredible nine matches, the third highest number of draws in the league after ZPC Kariba (11) and FC Platinum (10) but they remain the most lethal side with 31 goals to date.

A loss for DeMbare and a win for Tshilamoya will see the two giants level on points but Highlanders have a better goal difference.
What makes Bosso’s fight even more diffucult is that Dynamos are left with just two matches outside Harare from the remaining games.

Their next match will be away to FC Platinum before they visit their former son Moses Chunga at Sakubva Stadium against Buffaloes in Week 25.

From then onwards, the Glamour Boys will only leave Rufaro Stadium, their slaughter zone, once when they take a short trip across town to Gwanzura Stadium for a match against ZPC Kariba.

Bosso travel to Harare City, their place of misery last season, entertain ZPC (Kariba), visit Caps United, welcome Chicken Inn and then go to the Colliery Stadium in their next five matches. After that they play host to Chiredzi before wrapping up their season with a trip to Shabanie Mine.

Meanwhile, Highlanders chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede has defended the technical bench’s unusual way of giving instructions to the players during the game.

Since the appointment of Mark Mathe as Kaindu’s assistant, he (Mathe) has been seen on many occasions barking instructions to the boys at the same time as his boss Kaindu.

At one time he was cautioned by the fourth official during a match at Barbourfields Stadium when he also stood up and barked instructions against standing football rules.

“It depends on who would have been given what, sometimes the head coach might want his assistant to look at a certain area, they will not be addressing the same person really and I don’t see anything wrong with that,” said Gumede despite the fact that during Bekithemba Ndlovu’s tenure as assistant, Kaindu was the only one giving instructions with Ndlovu taking notes and once in a while also barking instructions.

“Mathe knows he is an assistant and takes instructions from Kaindu, the hierarchy is quite clear there,” said Gumede.