The Sunday News
Simbarashe Dube
WITH the adage “so far so good” being the anthem chorused through the length and breadth of the four corners of the 35-year-old nation, the Highlanders family might just be humming a different tune altogether.
The sad hit and miss story on the field of play has since made the Bosso fans to cry their eyes out for positive results and this calamity has left supporters of the nation’s oldest club singing a gloomy melody entitled “so far so bad”.
Although there are 25 games remaining in the PSL, already it can be said that Highlanders might have just found themselves in the temple of doom.
It might be too early to criticise Bongani Mafu’s philosophy at Highlanders, but it is also poignant to point out that under his guidance Bosso has been negatively breaking records, leaking in defence like sieves.
Ever since Mafu came on the Bosso bench, Highlanders has played over eight competitive games and won only thrice with a uniform 1-0 score line against How Mine, Tsholotsho and Hwange.
His now stuttering Highlanders job took a turn for worse last week when they lost for the first time at Barbourfields Stadium against the Gweru airmen, Chapungu.
Although his appointment was based on the matters pertaining to plotting the rise of the Bulawayo giants, Mafu fell on the first hurdle when he lost the first PSL game against ZPC Kariba, something that has never happened within the black and white colours in 18 years.
In past seasons the Highlanders’ backline has been rock solid, but in a number of matches played this season it just easily opens up like the Red Sea, therefore, allowing opposition strikers to simply pass through.
This has indeed silenced the Highlanders drum that might have just started beating again.
Over the past seasons, the black and white army has been a joy to watch in the initial stages of the premier league showcasing eye catching and stellar performances. But it seems like this year’s story will be told differently.
Before the season roared to life Mafu had a pool of about 150 players, and what was required from him was to select a well-oiled side of only 30 players. Alas, the gaffer has found it an uphill task to engineer a good side, as the club has been going through turbulent times.
With all the bloopers happening within the nation’s oldest club, the depth of the crisis has surpassed even the bleakest warnings of the institution’s prominent longtime benefactor Tshinga Dube, who reportedly was for a foreign coach.
Dube’s response to all this chaos is probably a simple-refrain, “I told you so”.
As it stands Mafu has not yet lived up to the hype surrounding the statement he uttered during his first Press conference after being assigned as the head coach of Highlanders.
“I can’t promise to win all the matches but all I can say is that teams will struggle to beat me and we will do well as a club,” said Mafu then.
The club’s performance has rather been unconvincing as the team in black and white has been as harmless as what cartoons are to kids in most of the games they have played under Mafu’s guidance.
After playing their fifth game the former Zimbabwe Saints head coach contradicted himself as he was quoted saying “Even Jesus can’t coach Bosso.”
The statement was loaded and it was received with mixed feelings from the title-hungry Bosso clan.
Fans demonstrated against him as his squad for this season appears to be gradually faltering. Cascades of ire, fruits of frustration emanated from the devotees therefore resulting in them asking Mafu to quit through an emotional piece “Mafu, Mafu, yizwa mazwi ami …”
Bosso fans were last handed bragging rights two years ago under the mentorship of Kelvin Kaindu (now with Triangle) when they clinched the prestigious 2013 Mbada Diamonds Cup.
During the pre-season campaign Bosso failed to register a win against a newly promoted division one side Bulawayo City.
After playing 90 minutes of barren football against Buffaloes in Mutare, the holder of the Uefa B badge had to blame the field of play for the poor performance displayed by his side, therefore openly making himself the laughing stock.
Even in a match that Highlanders were billed as favourites, Chapungu were on top of their game with the defeat leaving Bosso as a shadow of itself. In front of the title hungry Bosso fans, the humiliation by the Gweru airmen has so far remained this season’s most intellectualised aspect of the club’s sporting legacy.
Having about four players nursing injuries, the Highlanders head coach also made an excuse out of it as he in the long run pointed the finger of blame to the injuries as the obstacles towards the team’s success story. But earlier he had promised all and sundry, that Highlanders’ had depth and there was no reason to press panic buttons.
If Highlanders continues to yield undesirable results and display poor performances on the field of play, this will trigger the badge holder of the Uefa B’s exit as the Ndumiso Gumede-led executive committee will be left with no choice but to send him packing.
As a man with colourful qualifications that include an advanced coaching diploma from the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association, when appointed to take control of the Bosso steering wheel, the Bosso family has been expecting an immediate party but it has turned out to be a wake so far.
