The Sunday News
Phineas Mukwazo Sports Editor
BARBOURFIELDS Stadium is the place to be this afternoon, where to some a David and Goliath confrontation is about to unfold. But according to the Gospel of Tsholotsho Football Club it would be just another game, which can either be won or lost. They showed that in their last game against Harare City where they were apparently content with only playing the game.
According to the Fifa Fair Play concept, winning is the objective of playing any game. One should never set out to lose. In fact if you do not play to win, you will not only be cheating your opponents, but deceiving those who are watching, and also fooling yourself.
A team should never give up against stronger opponents and conversely never relent against weaker ones.
It sounds like the Tsholotsho motto, but today they meet a battered and bruised Highlanders, who might turn the tables on their ‘fairytale’’ start to the season last weekend.
The two teams come into this encounter with contrasting fortunes in their first matches of the season.
Highlanders, the faltering former champions, suffered a morale sapping defeat to ZPC Kariba, their first nightmarish league opener since 1997, while Tsholotsho had a morale boosting victory over Harare City with a 1-0 victory in their first ever Premiership league start.
But Bosso have the history, determination, character, pedigree and stamina to pick up their shattered morale, and certainly possess the expertise to triumph when the chips are down.
Bruised but certainly not down as yet, Bosso will definitely be out to prove that their traditionally inherited deep reservoirs of self belief have not been severely depleted by the agony of their otherwise “customary” loss to ZPC Kariba, a misfortune that started last season.
Riding high after their victory last time out, Tsholotsho too have a point to prove, and yet nothing to lose. Judging by that performance last time in Harare, they might wage an intriguing battle against the Bulawayo giants.
The questions ahead of this encounter will be has Bongani Mafu come up with a competitive unit that is ready to exhibit the gladiator like, touch-me-not type of attributes that the oldest football institution in the country had been renowned for?
Will the proverbial saying “you cannot confront a wounded buffalo in its territory and expect to come out unscathed’’ manifest itself in the form of a Bosso victory, against a bunch of eager unknowns who appear ready to upset the applecart?
As they say a cornered animal will appear for the longest time docile or fearful, obedient, sad, and incapable of saving itself. Then, suddenly, extra wide awake, it fights back — to death if necessary.
That is what we might get this afternoon when a crestfallen juggernaut known as Highlanders, seeks to awaken in its deep slumber against a boastful, well-oiled outfit which prides itself in the moniker, Iziqholo ZeZhwane.
Beware the party poopers are in town!
