SIMBA Bhora coach Joel Luphahla returns to face his former club Highlanders when the two sides clash in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday.
A former Warriors player, Luphahla was at the championship-winning Highlanders between 1998 and 2000 before he left for Cyprus, where he had a four-year stint. He later had a stint in South Africa before returning to the Bulawayo giants in 2010.
He was appointed assistant coach at the club in 2022, where he spent a season under Mandla Mpofu and later Portuguese mentor Baltemar Brito.
Luphahla said it will be an emotional game for him, but he holds no grudges against the Bulawayo giants who groomed him, even after spending his last days watching from the terraces as he was affected by the directive for coaches to possess a Caf ‘A’ Licence to sit in the dugout.
However, that directive was reviewed and Luphahla went on to be an assistant coach at Dynamos. He took over the helm at Simba Bhora this year.
“It's an emotional game for me. Bittersweet, I can say that. But I'm coming there, I've got nothing to prove to Highlanders. It's not like I'm coming for revenge or anything. I'm just coming there so that people can appreciate the growth that they have seen in me. People can also appreciate the work that they have put in for me to grow and be where I am. I owe it to the club.
“Since I was a young boy coming there to play from Tsholotsho, I have always been appreciated and loved. And they appointed me as an assistant to coach Mandla and Brito. Those two prepared me to be who I am today. I just want to come 'home' and show them that their son is standing on his own,” Luphahla said.
He added: “That their son is trying to be a better coach. Like I said, I hold no resentment. There's nothing that I'm coming there to prove to Highlanders, but just coming to play a good game for Simba, for the supporters that have been very good to us. So it's all about the three points at the end of the day.”
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Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu said it is an advantage that Luphahla knows his side in and out, but football is dynamic and the match will be decided after 90 minutes.
“You may have all the information at your disposal, but football is a different game. You may have some advantages. I think he's worked with Highlanders. He's worked with some of the players who are still there in the system. He knows the Highlanders culture.
“He's been here as a player. He's been here as a coach. Of course, he's got an advantage. I think 90 minutes determine how the outcome of the game is going to be,” Kaindu said.
