The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Sports Reporter
FOLKS in the greenbelt of Honde Valley might have been pondering about markets for their banana produce when one of their own – Norman Mapeza – was being crowned the 2017 Castle Lager Premiership season Coach of the Year last Friday in Harare. Even when he will drive down the undulating terrain of Honde Valley on December 27 in one of his sporadic visits to his rural home, some among his kith and kin might still be in the dark about the recent achievements of the legendary former Darryn T, Warriors and Galatasaray player.
“I will be going to Honde Valley on December 27. The place still occupies a special place in my life. It is my rural home and I make it a point that I visit the place whenever I get the chance,” remarked Mapeza during an interview on the sidelines of the 2017 Castle Lager Premiership Soccer Star of the Year awards last Friday.
While many are familiar with Mapeza’s background from his days in Unit K, Seke in Chitungwiza, the lanky player turned coach actually traces his roots to Mandiopera Village in Honde Valley where he used to chase the plastic home-made ball with his peers at the Nyamahwani communal fields grounds. That was back then and today, the FC Platinum gaffer is busy crafting the tactics to see his history- making project conquer Africa in the CAF Champions League. He said his team was aiming at a group stage appearance and anything that comes thereafter was a bonus.
“We are aiming at a group stage appearance and anything that comes thereafter is a bonus. We have started our preparations and everything is in order. We do not have names of players that we have roped in, but work is in progress to build a formidable outfit that can compete favourably at that stage,” he said.
After winning the domestic Premiership on the final day of the season at Ascot Stadium in Gweru, the Zvishavane platinum miners are now bracing themselves for their second dance with the CAF Champions League tournament. They open their CAF Champions League account with a preliminary round fixture during the February 9-11, 2018 weekend. FC Platinum have since gone on the overdrive in their hunt for a lethal striker amid reports that they have turned to West Africa where they hope to secure the services of Cameroonian Ibrahim Dauda.
Although they finished top of the log table as the 2017 domestic top-flight league champions with 72 points, two ahead of runners-up Dynamos, the success was hugely attributed to their mean defence which let in a paltry 15 goals in their 34 assignments. In comparison, their attack could only bang in 40 goals and were a distant fourth behind Dynamos (55), Ngezi Platinum (54) and CAPS United who had 43 goals to their credit. But Mapeza is not only looking at beefing up the strike-force, but almost all departments except the goalkeepers. He confirmed that they would regroup during the first week of January.
“We will strengthen all departments except maybe on our goalkeepers. Preparations are key and we will break for Christmas and regroup during the first week of January,” said Mapeza.
Locally, FC Platinum have hit the ground running on the transfer market and have so far secured the services of midfielders Liberty Chakoroma and Kelvin Madzongwe, while Highlanders’ Rahman Kutsanzira is also understood to be on his way to the champions.
