By Shamaoma Musonda
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GREEN Buffaloes coach Patrick Phiri has set his sights on winning the MTN-FAZ Premier League title as well as challenging for the Barclays Cup.
Phiri said in an interview that Buffaloes was a big club whose sponsors, the Zambia Army, always demanded the best and in this case, trophies.
He said the club’s target was to win the league or Zambia’s only remaining cup competition, the Barclay Cup, or even both.
“We are a big club and of course, we always want to win something. We want the MTN league title and any cup on offer and right now, which is the Barclay Cup. We could have failed to get either last year and it was because we were constrained on one area or the other but we were working in progressing this year, we are going for titles,” he said.
Buffaloes last year finished in a poor sixth position with 45 points, 14 off the mark and this was despite having a promising start to the season.
He said his club was being offered fantastic sponsorship by Zambia Army which he applauded adding that it was there important for the players to realise that fact and give it their all.
Phiri said there some players who got injuries in mid-season while others got worn-out and that affected their finish but that the technical bench had realised the Achilles’ heel and was working on it.
The technical bench at Buffaloes is not short of league and cup winners as Phiri himself won the league with Nkana as coach in 2001 while his assistant Bilton Musonda was the Star in the ‘Mighty’ Mufulira Wanderers team that won the league back to back in 1995 and 1996.
Phiri said the attitude was there among the players and the motivation cannot be questioned and that it was down to the players to raise their game and deliver the results.
Buffaloes thirst for the title is understandable considering they have not win the league title since 1981 and have not tasted cup success since the 1995 Mosi Cup triumph.
But ironically, Buffaloes are Zambia’s third most successful league title side with six titles together with Power Dynamos and Zanaco while Mufulira Wanderers is a rung above them with nine with Nkana sitting pretty on top with 12.