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Innocent Kurira, Sports Writer 

IN the absence of head coach Baltemar Brito who will be away on national team duty, Madinda Ndlovu and Joel Luphahla will lead the Highlanders FC technical team when they face Cranborne Bullets in a league game at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday.

Brito attended the club’s weekly press conference at the club offices before his departure for the Warriors camp in Harare.

He was flanked by Antonio Torres who he is travelling with him and Luphahla was at the press briefing.

Brito was quick to point out that club legend Madinda and Luphahla will be in charge on Sunday.

“The preparations have been different because we have been called up for the national team. We will leave (today) yesterday. Coach Madinda and Joel will take control of the team on game day. It will make sense even during the week, through my supervision we have been sharing ideas to put the team together but knowing l will be away with the national team. What we can say is we work together and we trust each other and we are preparing the team to get three points,” said Brito.

The Portuguese coach also made it clear that he had left the technical team with the power to make decisions that would help the team.

“I want to make it clear l will be absent. I will not be here but l have full trust in the technical team that l have here, controlling the game. I don’t want them to work like a PlayStation. I want to make it clear that l will give them the freedom, confidence and trust to create the plan and to find the solution for the team. Out of it, if we win l want our supporters, our fans, our family to support and clap for them. If we don’t win, I just want the blame to come to one person, me because l know they would have done their best to produce a good performance,” said Brito 

The last time Brito went on a national team assignment was when the Warriors played a friendly encounter against Botswana in Gaborone. 

The game was played on a Saturday and Brito was on the bench the next day as Bosso were booted out of the Chibuku Super Cup by Caps United after losing 5-3 on penalties. 

The game had ended 2-2 after regulation time. 

On that day he started trusted Muduhwa who had played some 24 hours before the encounter.

Questions were asked on whether Brito was just showing passion or a lack of trust in his assistants. The answer to that remains with him alone.

Highlanders will be without defenders Peter Muduhwa and Andrew Mbeba who are with the national team. 

Muduhwa, despite national team commitments, was not going to play as he is on a four-game suspension. 

Bosso will be desperate to bounce back to winning ways against the army side after suffering a humiliating 3-0 loss to Simba Bhora in their last league game. 

Matchday 27 fixtures

Saturday: Herentals v Yadah (National Sports Stadium), Ngezi Platinum Stars v Chicken Inn (Baobab), Manica Diamonds v Dynamos (Gibbo), Bulawayo Chiefs v Simba Bhora (Luveve), ZPC Kariba v FC Platinum (Nyamhunga), Black Rhinos v GreenFuel (Bata)

Sunday: Triangle v Hwange (Gibbo), Highlanders v Cranborne Bullets (Barbourfields), Caps United v Sheasham (National Sports Stadium)

— @innocentskizoe