Just beat Dynamos and ignore league title, Highlanders fans say to Kaindu
By Tapiwa Svondo
Highlanders head coach Kelvin Kaindu says he is often inundated with pleas from fans to help the club beat rivals Dynamos at the bare minimum and think of the premiership title as a bonus.
The Zambian mentor was speaking to Zimstar News on Monday after guiding the Bulawayo club to a triumphant 2-1 beating the Harare giants in a high profile premiership clash at Barbourfields on Sunday.
Kaindu said football is a “pressure game” but admitted the weight in more when the club meets Dynamos.
“The season has started there will be pressure. Football is a pressure game. Every game that we play comes with pressure,” Kaindu said.
“But the first thing is we must know how to manage the pressure. Whether you win or lose, there is pressure. What we need is to learn how to handle it.”
He added, “But coming to this game and beating Dynamos, I think it’s a good result for everyone, and we just hope that we maintain our momentum and focus.
“Three points are important to the team, and I know that beating Dynamos is very important to the fans.”
The coach said die-hard fans want him to beat the club’s main rivals even it means losing out on the premiership title end of the season.
“When it comes to the Highlanders-Dynamos game, I think fans have different opinions,” he said.
“Some fans will tell you that they don’t care how they lose, but if they can only beat Dynamos, then they are happy.
“Other fans will tell you that once we beat Dynamos, even if we don’t win the championship, we are okay,” said the coach who is in his second stint as Bosso dugout boss in just over a decade.
Highlanders and Dynamos have dominated domestic football especially in the 1980s when the latter was strongest and in the 1990s and early 2000s when Highlanders had the upper hand.
Their intense rivalry has manifested in incidences of violence often witnessed when they collide.
