The prospects of playing continental football in 2016 and honors in the city of Kitwe this year are looking all but dim.
Kitwe prides itself as the home of Zambian football but the home sweet home sign in the 2015 season is looking rather tatty.
Just to put it into perceptive, Kitwe giants Nkana and Power Dynamos have a combined total of 18 league wins, four more than Lusaka club’s Zanaco, Green Buffaloes, Red Arrows and City of Lusaka titles all put together.
Perennial top two side Power are going through the motions having had to struggle even more this season after selling their erratic but still dependable striker Alex Ngonga to CS Mounana of Gabon in May.
Power now resemble a mid-table developmental side littered with on-loan junior signings begging the question as to what exactly is coach Tennant Chilumba’s business model for such a big team in a hurry for bigger things.
They are currently third on 47 points and looking out of breath as they play catch-up with second placed Zanaco, on 49 points, with six matches left to play while leaders Zesco United, who have game in hand, have 55 points.
Furthermore, Power’s best hopes of silverware went up in flames last Saturday when they were booted out of the first round of the 2015 Barclays Cup at the quarterfinal stage by Green Buffaloes who beat them 5-3 on post-match penalties after a 0-0 full-time result in Lusaka.
Their arch-rivals, Nkana, who won the league in 2013 are down in 9th place and have failed to find their feet since the death of the man who lead them to that triumph coach Masauso Mwale who died in a car accident in May, 2014.
An off-tune flurry of musical chairs has ensured at Nkana with players and coaches in a space of six months from the start of the 2015 season.
The football mad town now embarrassingly gets ready to an end of the season without the possibility of a team finishing in the top two for the first time since 2010 with Power again frustratingly winning just one title from their last three top three finishes since its 2011 FAZ Super Division victory.
Power and Nkana fans also face the strong likelihood of spending Christmas envying upstart Zesco and the team they love to hate from Lusaka, Zanaco, booking their 2016 plane tickets into Africa.
