Bosso players lack zeal: Zenzo

Sport
HIGHLANDERS legend Zenzo Moyo believes the current crop of players at the Bulawayo giants have not shown serious commitment to the club

HIGHLANDERS legend Zenzo Moyo believes the current crop of players at the Bulawayo giants have not shown serious commitment to the club which has led to Bosso’s inconsistency in the 2013 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL).

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Although Highlanders are still in the race for the championship, they have lost six matches in the league with nine matches left to the end of the season. Last season they lost only one match in 30 games.

Bosso are sitting on position three with 37 points, four points behind log leaders Dynamos to whom they ceded the title on the last day last year (they were square on 69 points with Dynamos, but were outdone on goal difference).

The former Warriors international and championship-winning hitman, whose last title was in 2006 after a return from Europe, said there was lack of commitment by players who did not have the understanding that donning the Highlanders jersey could take them places. Instead, he says, they bicker on financial benefits from the club.

“As legends, we don’t want to point fingers. This is not the right time, but we have players who are lacking ability to deliver. I don’t want to mention names, but our players have no sense of belonging to Highlanders. We cannot be blaming the coach or the manager for the results.

“Our players don’t know what it means to fight for and put on that jersey. They don’t see that Highlanders can open doors for them. “Instead they are crying out for little sums of money in winning bonuses. Highlanders is a big club that can take you places and win you big bonuses elsewhere. We didn’t have money when we played for Highlanders, but we were committed and we knew what those jerseys meant,” Moyo whose international career took him to Cyprus in 2000, said .

He also played in Greece before rejoining the club in 2006 under Methembe Ndlovu’s tutelage to win another league title.

Since Highlanders exported Vusa Nyoni, Tapuwa Kapini, Honour Gombami and Obadiah Tarumbwa after the 2006 triumph, no player has left for Europe.

Instead, star players like Washington Arubi who joined from Lancashire Steel and Cuthbert Malajila from Chapungu, opted for Dynamos, subsequently ending up in South Africa.

Nyoni is still in Belgium while Tarumbwa has joined Pretoria University in South Africa after stints in Cyprus and Kenya. Gombami, has played in Belgium, but is club hunting while Kapini is in SA.

From the current crop of players, none except Masimba Mambare, Peter “Rio” Moyo and Milton Ncube have attracted interest from abroad. Moyo’s class included “real black and white” Bosso sons like Gift Lunga (Jr), Johannes Ngodzo, Mubariki Chisoni, Thulani “Biya” Ncube, Amon Chimbalanga, Dazzy Kapenya, Thabani Masawi, Blessing Gumiso and Siza Khoza, among others.

Bosso lost their sixth match on Sunday, losing the second match to new PSL boys How Mine at Barbourfields Stadium.

This is the fourth match they have lost at Emagumeni after losing their first 0-1 to Motor Action in April. They then lost 1-2 to How Mine in May before another 0-1 loss to Chicken Inn in June.

Other losses were to Caps United in Harare in June (1-2) and 0-1 to Black Mambas also in the capital last month before the Sunday defeat to How Mine.

Highlanders fans have blamed the coach Kelvin Kaindu for experimenting with the team’s composition with another clique of supporters accusing welfare manager Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo of interfering with team selection.

Kaindu has denied that Mashinkila-Khumalo is throwing spanners into the works while Bosso chairman Peter Dube has also thrown that assertion out.

Two months ago, the club allegedly slashed winning bonuses for players by 50% which many say has contributed to the low morale in camp.

Last Friday, no member of the technical team attended the Mbada Diamonds Cup draw in Harare, although Khumalo and Dube were present. Kaindu and his assistants Bekithemba Ndlovu and Tembo Chuma were nowhere to be seen.

While Highlanders have been quick to dismiss issues, a source close to their sponsors BancABC, confirmed last week that the club had failed to present a budget for the acquisition of players during the mid-season transfer window and for the rehabilitation of a borehole at the clubhouse.