Kelvin Kaindu
Senior Sports Reporter
CAPS United will be out for maximum points when they invade the City of Kings and Queens for a duel with a bruised How Mine at Luveve Stadium this afternoon. Coach Lloyd Chitembwe said they were gunning for an outright win while his counterpart Zambian Kelvin Kaindu chose to be diplomatic saying he would only talk about the final outcome after 90 minutes.
“I’ll never win a game before I play, Chitembwe seems to have confidence in his squad but for us, it’s about 90 minutes first,” said Kaindu. Chitembwe told a press conference in Harare on Thursday that while he had a lot of respect for the gold miners, his target was a win and nothing else.
“We’ve great respect for How Mine. We don’t have an annual target as a club but only have weekly targets and this week, our target is to win against How Mine,” said Chitembwe who also refused to comment about his side’s chances of winning the league this year.
Although yet to taste a lose, Chitembwe said his major aim this season was to collect more points than any of the previous Caps United teams.
Caps United have Hwange born and bred Dominic Chungwa, son to former Hwange FC player Petros, who on his day can tear any defence into shreds. Experienced midfielder Archieford Gutu, veteran Leonard Tsipa and former skipper Method Mwanjali are some of the players at Chitembwe’s disposal. How Mine, smarting from a shock 0-1 loss to new boys Mutare City Rovers, are no minnows as alluded to by coach Kaindu and have all the pedigree of bringing Caps United to a shattering crash.
“Our loss was due to complacency on our part and I hope we’ve leant our lesson. We’re playing against a good side that has been picking up points in all their games so far but we’re ready as a club and I think our more experienced guys will carry the day for us,” said Kaindu.
He said for a side that lost almost their entire matches in the second half of the season last year, it was comforting to note that confidence was slowly growing among the players.
With Charles Sibanda and Kudakwashe Musharu, joint 2014 top goalscorers, in form midfielder Pasca Manhanga, enterprising right back Quadr Amini, Thembani Masuku and Godfrey Nguwodzawo, How Mine can actually be the club to hand Caps United their first defeat.
“It’s going to be a difficult game, Caps United are highly motivated and will have the crowd behind them but I think the better team of the day will get it,” said Kaindu.