THE first half of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season has flown by, setting the stage for a bruising fight in the second half as the country’s top clubs bid for honours and survival.
Highlanders are odds on favourites to end a painful 17-year-long barren spell, but coach Baltemar Brito is too wily to take anything for granted, despite opening up a seven point gap between his club and their nearest rivals Ngezi Platinum Stars.
After 17 matches, Highlanders are yet to lose a match and have amassed 37 points from 10 wins and seven draws.
The Bulawayo giants struggled in the first half of the season last year and they eventually fired coach Mandla Mpofu and replaced him with Brazilian-born Brito who has sent some shock waves in the league.
This time last year, Highlanders were on position 10 with just 23 points and this year, they are 14 points better.
Bosso’s numbers are impressive, but the most exciting bit is that from those 17 matches they have played so far, they have let in just four goals.
Their goals tally is not as impressive, but they have found a way of making it difficult for anyone to score against them which has been their hallmark to date.
FC Platinum, who won the league title with 75 points last term, are one point better than where they were at this stage last season despite them having a topsy turvy season, currently sitting on sixth, 11 points behind Bosso.
At this stage last term, Chicken Inn were in the driving seat on 35 points from 17 games and they had won 10 games, drawn five and lost two.
Ngezi Platinum Stars are still looking for their first league title since they were promoted to the topflight and this time around they are giving it a good fight, sitting second seven points behind Bosso compared to the seventh spot they occupied at this stage last year.
Like last year, Manica Diamonds were competitive at the top in the first half of the season, sitting on position four with 29 points, and by the weekend they were on position four with the same number of points and this time around they have won eight games (five draws and four losses) compared to last season’s seven with eight draws and two defeats.
Giants Dynamos are keeping up the chase at the top, perching on position four after an impressive 5-1 win over Yadah over the weekend, but compared to last year’s 34 points at the same time, they have accumulated 28 points.
Another league giant Caps United struggled last year and at the end of the first half of the season, they were on the 12th spot with 17 points and this year they have picked up 24 points and sit on position seven, representing a bit of an improvement.
Their title hopes look slim at this stage though.
Newboys Sheasham, Yadah and Cranborne Bullets are part of the bottom strugglers going into the second half, but with a chance of improvement going forward.
Source NewsDay
