Hanging by a thread: Salary dispute rattles battle of Cities

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
THE blockbuster tie pitting Highlanders FC and Caps United scheduled for Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday is hanging by a thread, but Bosso have not taken their eye off the ball as they are intensively preparing for the Battle of the Cities.
It’s all gloom in the visitors’ camp ahead of one of the country’s epic battles at Caps United have not trained the entire week with players staging no shows at the team’s training sessions.

The players have not received their salaries for the past three months and have vowed not to make the trip to Bulawayo.  To even show how bad things are at Caps United, the club president Farai Jere is reported to have sent “fake” salary messages to the players’ phones.

Chronicle Sport understands the players had been promised their dues yesterday so they could resume training. At the time of going to print the players were still to receive their dues.

Highlanders assistant coach Joel Luphahla, who had a stint with Caps United during his playing career, says they are fully focused on the match on Sunday and are not paying attention to the off-field drama in Harare.

“The game comes at a time when we are trying to improve our placing on the table. We have been reading about what is happening at Caps United and l have told my boys that let’s not read much into all that because Caps United have performed better when they are going through these challenges.

“If we are going to think they are not training and relax on our end, we are going to have a challenge.

They will be motivated because when you are coming from an industrial action after having been paid you want to push more. And of course this being a big game is motivation on its own.

“I am sure it’s going to be an interesting game. Most of the games we have played against Caps United have always been good games,” said Luphahla.

Luphahla also revealed that centre back Peter Muduhwa is suspended for the Caps United encounter.

“We have got one suspension this week, our centre back Peter Muduhwa is not going to be available but we are happy that we’ve got other players that are going to do the job,” said Luphahla.

The absence of Muduhwa is sure to be felt since Andrew Tandi is also out nursing a long term injury.

“Having to miss Peter at times, I believe that he is one of our strongest defenders, it was going to be better if Andrew Tandi was here but we don’t have Peter, we don’t have Tandi, but the players that we have, we are very confident that they are going to lead us to victory,” Luphahla said.

Highlanders are sixth on the log going into the encounter on Sunday. The Green Machine crashed out of the Chibuku Super Cup after losing to Black Rhinos at Vengere Stadium in Rusape at the weekend and are on position 12 on the table.

Highlanders on the other hand are fresh from an impressive away win against Triangle at Gibbo Stadium. The first leg between the two sides in Harare ended in a one all stalemate.

Fixtures

Saturday: ZPC Kariba v Dynamos (Nyamhunga 1pm), Black Rhinos v Chicken Inn (Vengere), Ngezi Platinum v FC Platinum (Baobab), Harare City v Bulawayo Chiefs (NSS), Bulawayo City v Yadah (Barbourfields), WhaWha v Triangle (Ascot)
Sunday: Manica Diamonds v Cranborne Bullets (Vengere), Herentals v Tenax (NSS), Highlanders v Caps United (Barbourfields).
l All matches at 3pm unless stated.

Article Source: The Chronicle