The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
IF there is anything special about GreenFuel’s promotion into the Premier Soccer League, apart from being the first team to bring top-flight league football to Chipinge, then it is their coach, Lloyd Samaita’ Mutasa’s personal achievement of taking his third team to the Promised Land.
GreenFuel earned Premiership promotion after an unbeaten run in a league where the ethanol producers shrugged off competition from Mutare City Rovers who were aiming at making a sensational return to the big boys’ league.
Mutasa was at the helm of the now defunct Kiglon Bird FC’s technical department when the club won promotion into the Premiership in 2006, before he attained the same feat with the then Binali Yard-bankrolled Highway FC the following year.
The former Tanganda FC midfield genius who has coached Dynamos, FC Platinum, Shooting Stars, Highway, Kiglon Bird and Hwahwa in his lengthy career as a coach in the domestic top-flight league is now looking ahead to an equally lengthy stay of GreenFuel FC in the Premiership.
“I am naturally excited that I have managed to take this team, GreenFuel FC, into the Premiership. Yes, it is the third time I have achieved that feat, and it gives me the impetus to look ahead with the aim of not, just making numbers in the Premiership, but to be competitive.
“It is my hope and prayer that we will have a lengthy stay in the Premier Soccer League as a team and we will also make our impact felt. I have no doubt that we will turn Chipinge into a formidable football citadel by using local talent and blend it with others,” he said.
Mutasa spoke about his intention to promote young talent.
“Football has evolved the world-over and it is no longer about senior players. Yes, we need that experience, but it is equally important to have youngsters who have the talent and what it takes to play in the Premiership to be given a chance.
“I am personally going to attach too much importance to that. I want to have talented young players in my team, and I believe these will give a good example to other teams who are relying on old players to the extent of being nicknamed old people’s homes,” said the celebrated domestic football living legend.
Bankrolled by the Chisumbanje-based ethanol producing concern, GreenFuel, the team could be a force to reckon with in the top-flight league, given their reliable source of income compared to some financially struggling clubs, some of them even battling to feed players, let alone pay them.
