The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
Chapungu . . . . . . . . . . . . .(1) 1 Harare City . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
KALLISTO PASUWA’S manager Gibson Mahachi yesterday dropped the biggest hint that the record breaking coach could be on his way back to the Premiership trenches with struggling Harare City the most likely destination.
Pasuwa, who had decided to take a one-year sabbatical after he was sacked as national team coach in February, could be appointed new Harare City coach just in time for the Sunshine Boys’ next assignment which coincidentally is against Dynamos.
Pasuwa guided DeMbare to four straight Premier Soccer League titles between 2011 and 2014 before he graduated into national team management.
And he is now set to bounce back at City who fell 0-1 to Chapungu in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Ascot yesterday.
Tinei Chitora scored the solitary goal after 13 minutes.
“I can confirm there has been engagement and three or so clubs have enquired about his (Pasuwa) availability but I can’t name them for professional reasons,” Pasuwa’s manager told The Sunday Mail yesterday.Although Pasuwa is reluctant to make a return to Premiership football management, a hefty offer from Harare City could turn his head.
“The current position is that Pasuwa is not prepared to take any position but very soon he will be available,” Mahachi said, in an apparent hint.
A source within Harare City confirmed that the club’s Board of Trustees dispatched a team to negotiate with Pasuwa’s manager last week.
“A team to negotiate with Pasuwa’s camp has been set and negotiations are progressing well. Apparently, Pasuwa had decided to rest for the whole year but he is now heading to City,” revealed the source.
Yesterday’s defeat left incumbent coach Mike Madzivanyika a dead man walking as City succumbed to their worst start – one win in nine – to a season since their debut top flight year in 2012.
Madzivanyika blamed his strike force and hinted at changes in that department when the mid-season window opens but “Micky Dread” might not last that distance.
“It’s difficult to win matches when your strikers cannot find the target. The defenders are doing well but going forward we are doing nothing.
“We need to look around for strikers and that is not a question,” said Madzivanyika in his post match interview.It seems Harare City coaches have some bad luck against Chapungu because last season, Taurai Mangwiro was fired on May 30, three days after a goalless draw with the air men at Rufaro.
And Madzivanyika might also not last through May following yesterday’s defeat to Chapungu who picked up their first victory of the season and moved from the basement to 16th.
“I am very happy, everyone was fighting for the ball. We had a plan today and it worked well,” said Chapungu coach Tendai Chikuni.
“We knew if we got a goal our chances of winning would be high because we had kept clean sheets in our previous matches against Highlanders and Chapungu.”
