Chitembwe speaks ahead of Tsholotsho clash

CAPS United coach, Lloyd Chitembwe, has said that there will be no complacency when the premier league champions clash with Tsholotsho FC at home at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Addressing journalists at a press conference at club offices in Harare this afternoon, Chitembwe said his troops – who recorded back-to-back victories in the premier league against the 14th placed relegation survivors Tsholotsho FC last year – will remain focused and that it will not be necessarily easy when they host the Matabeleland side.

Tsholotsho lost 2-0 before losing 1-0 to the defending champions last year.

“All the teams are never easy; all the premiership teams. Last year we won home and away but it was never easy. So we don’t expect easy games in the premiership. There are no easy games.

“It’s not really about complacency, I’m sure these boys know what they have to achieve at the end of the day. They have tested success and I’m happy they just want to continue,” Chitembwe said.

Chitembwe, however, played down their last two consecutive Uhuru Cup defeats to Dynamos and FC Platinum respectively, saying the invitational tournament was not a priority to CAPS United. He said the two recent performances would not in any way affect the team’s confidence ahead of their third premier league fixture.

“For me, like I said, I’m not looking at that because in terms of our priority; our key result areas, I think those games – including the Charity [Shield] games – were not amongst what we desired to have this season. And I’m sure we did set targets for us in the [CAF] Champions League and the [premier] league, not the invitational tourneys. I think they did serve a purpose like I said [for us] to try and have a look at other players.

“Yah, it was a very special occasion for the country, that’s what it means for us. We share the same emotions with the generality of people, I’m sure that’s what it meant for us. It was our independence celebration and we also had to celebrate with everyone.

“But on the footballing side . . . for us the purpose was to look at the other players that we have and just having them to at least play competitive football and it served that purpose. We are happy,” he said.

“What I observed is that we are one team that has to play a bigger number of games. For your information, we are not going to play less than 60 games, which is a huge number of games to play in less than nine months. And the rest of these teams are going to play maximum of 32 games. That tells you [that] you really need to make sure you are very sensible in terms of managing these games. Not all of your best players will get to play in the 60 plus competitive games. You really need to manage these kinds of situation.

“But yeah, [I’m] generally very impressed by what I saw and the good thing is [that] we do have a team; a good team that can compete, that qualified into the group stages of Africa (CAF champions league). It (qualification) was not by a fluke, it was not by chance neither was it by coincidence, we really meant to achieve the things that we achieved. So yah, we are happy,” he added.

Chitembwe said United have no injuries to their squad and have been boosted by the return of veteran goalkeeper, Edmore Sibanda, who was not part of the two Uhuru Cup defeats due to injury.

Copyright © Soccer24, 2024. All Rights Reserved
NEWS MATCHCENTRE TABLES VIDEOS