Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Mtulisi Mafa
11 February 2005
Harare — OUR football desperately needs a prayer.
The Warriors have not won at home since October 2003, Zifa is still the same old circus and battle lines are being drawn between the country's biggest companies in the mobile phone business for a stake in the game.
Enter CAPS United.
The champions plunge sharply onto the international focus this weekend and millions of Zimbabweans will be expecting them to finish off the job when they face Lesotho Defence Forces in Maseru on Sunday.
CAPS are scheduled to leave for Johannesburg this afternoon en-route to Lesotho for their crucial African Champions League first round, second leg tie against a Lesotho Defence Forces team they thrashed 4-1 two weeks ago.
CAPS were initially scheduled to embark on a tortuous journey to Lesotho by road due to lack of funds but Air Zimbabwe stepped in with 21 tickets for their flight.
CAPS coach Charles Mhlauri has taken a squad that will hardly give him sleepless nights but instead a group that is capable of doing just that to their opponents.
Mhlauri is man who despises seating on the laurels and for the whole week, he was preaching his usual "there is so much work to be done" line.
He is aware that a 4-1 lead does not really guarantee the future of the champions in the champions' league.
Mhlauri's memories probably strayed back to the year that Highlanders took a healthy 3-0 lead into the fortress of Sable de Batie in Cameroon, only to come back as losers.
Such is the Champions' League and among their ranks CAPS have got players who have been at that stage and seen it all.
Record championship winning midfielder Siza Khoza, with five league titles to his credit, has had the unfortunate experience of failing to reach the mini-league phase during his days with Highlanders.
He knows that their opponents can overturn their seemingly healthy lead, having been part of the squad that threw away the 3-0 lead.
Rightly so, the game is not over yet and the champions will need to fight for their right of passage into the next stage and hopefully into the famous mini-league.
It has not happened in the last seven years and all the previous champions have done is to parade their mediocrity in the face of the international football public.
Our teams have simply yielded without a fight almost bestowing heavyweight status to some hugely laughable opposition.
Our football has sunk so low that our players turned into demoralised artists and ironically Mhlauri is the man who fate has tasked to change the nation's international fortunes.
He still has some tough work to do with the Warriors, but for now, he will have to overwork his sweat glands with the team he crafted to dominate local football.
What is swiftly apparent is that the local game is at a crossroads and somehow the league champions have to take the initiative to reclaim some order and bring back the beauty on the games' face.
They have shown their quality throughout, from their remarkable defensive athletes to an admirable midfield that has the potential to turn the game by its head.
CAPS should not find the game hard in Lesotho, they never played like a team worthy a place in this competition, probably the best from a mediocre band of football institutions in their mountainous kingdom.
Ashley Muza is back in the thick of things with his solidity and aggression in his tackles.
He is forever growing into a match-winning midfielder and could again provide the glory of qualification if he can hold his nerves.
If evidence was to be heard in the court of public opinion, the league champions would easily be able to call upon impressive witnesses to the stand to back their claim to be the best in the land.
And not even the most myopic football fan could deny the evidence of CAPS' greater tenacity, resilience and courage.
But that will not be enough to convince the jury beyond our borders and they have a chance to prove just that using their massive force over the not-so- defensive Lesotho Defence Forces team.
The remarkable team built by Mhlauri, bonded by the talents of Cephas Chimedza and predators' lash endowed in Leonard Tsipa, should not get lost in the mist of Lesotho.
CAPS have shown an unshakeable self-belief and they have demonstrated a remarkable range in their attacking potential.
The resilience of their defence, led by the tough captain Laughter Chilembe, speaks a lot about a team that is capable of restoring some order in the rubble called local football.
With class almost the definition of the champions' dressing room, fortune too can play a defining role in pursuit of any sporting prize and CAPS should hope that the good winds blow in their direction.
They might not have the most elegant players in the cast but who does?
Not Lesotho Defence Forces, of course, and not even the African champions themselves, Enyimba.
CAPS must go into Lesotho with greater purpose, just like they did the last time their opponents were in town, and a passage to the next stage should be a pad from which they will launch their African campaign.
Just like Chilembe has pointed out, CAPS need to join the elite of African football, where real football is played. CAPS deserve to be in the Champions League mini-league phase. For a team that has done so well and brought back some quality into our football, faltering like the other champions would just be a huge mockery to our football.
CAPS won the treble all right, but all that will mean nothing if they don't reach the next stage and more importantly if they don't get to the min-league phase.
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