The Sunday News
Simbarashe Dube Sports Reporter
IN the past few seasons, Highlanders Football Club has made adverse headlines from both the field of play and its technical department, its failure to win the country’s most coveted trophy, the Premier Soccer League, in as many seasons.
The appointment of Bongani Mafu as the team’s head coach has once again brought hope, but the burning question from the multitude of the Bosso supporters still remain: “Will he (Mafu) return the glory days to Bosso?”
Holding an internationally recognised UEFA B licence does not only make Mafu a fully equipped man, it also makes his qualifications colourful.
The internationally recognised licence enables Mafu to examine the psychological factors associated with player performances, implying that the gaffer will know his players’ performances from an inner assessment, something, perhaps, that was lacking from the previous Bosso coaches.
Also having an advanced coaching diploma from the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association makes Mafu no stranger in the local premiership. It is indeed an added advantage over the previous foreign coaches like the Egyptian mentor Mohammed Fathi who didn’t have such credentials.
Fitness and endurance of the Highlanders players won’t be something to worry about as it is the gaffer’s area of proficiency.
Experience in the premier league is also another thing that Mafu has as he was once in charge at former Premiership champions, Zimbabwe Saints.
Coaching Chikwata cannot be something that one can brag about, since the club was already on its way down the ladder when he took over, but what he might be credited for during his stint on the “Chauya Chikwata” bench is the fact that he defeated Dynamos, something that has proved to be a herculean task for Bosso recently.
Beyond Zimbabwe’s borders, Mafu has been exposed to foreign premier leagues, having had a stint with Botswana’s Gaborone United (GU) and although GU is not a high profile team as Bosso, the experience is certain to come in handy.
At GU Mafu was not under intense pressure from the terraces, since the club didn’t have much following compared to Highlanders that can claim 15 000 followers on any good day.
Having been on attachment at the former UEFA Champions league victors, Italian giants, AC Milan, Mafu is expected to plot the Bulawayo giants’ rise to the top of the PSL. If he is to unleash what he was taught in Italy, then Highlanders’ traditional form will be guaranteed.
“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 in his first Press conference after being assigned as the head coach of Highlanders.
Flattering to deceive has been the order of the day for the Bulawayo giants. Over the past seasons, the black and white army excites in the initial stages of the premier league, but as the clock ticks, the eye catching, stellar performances go into oblivion.
Two weeks back, Highlanders made headlines as it gave “pink slips” to some of its senior players only to reverse their decision by calling back two of them, Joel “Josta” Ngodzo and Mthulisi Maphosa to the club.
Was axing senior players a strategy that Mafu had, to begin with? Or rather the question should be, was it a tactic that could be used to yield wonder times for the Bosso family? Only Mafu knows!
Soon to be donning the Bosso jersey is an 18-year-old, former Prince Edward pupil, Thomas Chideu, who even attracted the attention of English top flight side, Sunderland, after netting 34 goals in 14 matches for Oswestry School in England.
The teenage goal-machine signed a three-year contract with the Bulawayo giants last week. Perhaps having on board a player who has fascinated a Barclays Premiership side will also help Mafu in his quest of giving the fans something to cheer about.
The last coach to lift the PSL title with Highlanders was the club’s former player, Methembe Ndlovu (now with Bantu Rovers) and that was nine years back in 2006.
During Fathi’s reign, Bosso was going through turbulent times as the club was facing a financial crisis and this led to undesirable results and poor performances triggering the Egyptian’s exit as the then Highlanders executive committee showed him the door.
Another former player, Mkhuphali “Mr Cooper” Masuku replaced the Egyptian, but he failed to quench the thirst of the Bosso family and his contract was not renewed at the end of 2011, with the Themba Ndlela-led executive preferring to replace him with Zambian, Kelvin Kaindu.
With Kaindu, a former Highlanders player, the fans were made to “believe” as the team went undefeated for more than 20 games in a row in the year the Zambian mentor took charge and Bosso fought till the last day of the season only to lose the title to Calisto Pasuwa-led Dynamos.
The year 2013 saw KK guide the team to a major trophy, the Mbada Diamonds Cup and kept the supporters’ faith with his famous religious quip, “It shall be well”. However, 2014 was a different year and a poor performance in the second half of the season saw the Zambian tender his resignation before the season ended after fans pelted him with stones as the team’s title charge once again faltered.
From the terraces, the title thirsty Bosso fans have been rallying behind the Bulawayo giants in both home and away games and for the patience they have exercised throughout the club’s dry spell, Mafu has to offer them back the bragging rights they deserve.
The club’s longtime benefactor, Tshinga Dube wanted a foreign coach. But the last time Bosso had their hands on the title was with a local coach, Methembe Ndlovu, on the driving seat. Not only does Mafu have to bring the old days back, but he also has to silence his critics.
If Mafu is to lead Highlanders to the Promised Land, if he is to bring back the hey-days, then he has no other alternative but to work round the clock.
After all the say “sweet comes from sweat.”
