Who will crumble first as pressure mounts?

By Eddie Chikamhi in HARARE and Paul Mundandi in ZVISHAVANE

Norman Mapeza was in bullish mood yesterday as he plotted the strategy to maintain their advantage in the Premiership race when they face one of their toughest hurdles at Mandava this afternoon.

FC Platinum are in almost a similar position as they were four years ago when they nearly won the championship in their debut season only for the title to be snatched by Dynamos in the penultimate match.

The Zvishavane side lead the race with 48 points, one ahead of second placed CAPS United and four ahead of Highlanders. They have recovered from a bad patch lately and Mapeza believes his side will not wilt under pressure.

“I triumphed over Dynamos this year, but tomorrow (today) will be a different game. They want a positive result and we need a positive result. It’s good that you read in the papers that we are under pressure.

“They can continue to write and as FC Platinum we are not under pressure at all. We will just play our normal game and all we need is a positive result,” said Mapeza.

FC Platinum have a clean bill of health and have been boosted by the return of veteran defender Gift Bello who missed two league games because of suspension.

Bello, a former Dynamos player, has been at the club for three seasons and scored when the two sides met at Rufaro. Big forward Tarisai Rukanda is also expected back in the team which has been built around Winston Mhango, Rodwell Chinyengetere, Ishmael Wadi, young Tatenda Dzumbunu and Makai Kawashu in the second half of the season.

FC Platinum haven’t forgotten that afternoon in 2011 when their bid to win the championship crashed with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dynamos who went on to lift the title.

The miners are favourites to become the first team to bring the crown outside Harare and Bulawayo since independence. Mapeza was on the winners podium in 2008 with Monomotapa.

Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa is a former FC Platinum gaffer and will probably love to put a dent to his former paymasters’ bid to win the title. His son, Wisdom, also played for the Zvishavane side before his botched trip to Europe with his best friend Walter Musona.

Even CAPS United and Highlanders supporters are likely to do the unthinkable and root behind Dynamos this afternoon so that the race remains open.But it has been quite a turbulent week for DeMbare.

The morale in their camp probably hit its lowest during midweek when assistant coach Murape Murape was shown the exit, but the decision was overturned barely 24 hours later.

Mutasa was told he is living on borrowed time and would be replaced as soon as possible.DeMbare, who were booted out of the Chibuku Super Cup in the first round by How Mine last Sunday, went on to beat Tsholotsho 2-0 during midweek to boost spirits ahead of the trip to Mandava.

Mutasa was still cautious. “It’s going to be a tough game, but we are going to play for three points. We are far away from the league title and we don’t want to put ourselves under a lot of pressure.

“What we would want is to have a good game, try as much as we can to collect three points,” said Mutasa. Newboys Tawanda Macheke and Takunda Sadiki were on target in the last match against Tsholotsho. However, Mutasa said his team lacked consistency this season.

“There wasn’t much of consistency. We win today, we draw the next match and probably we lose the following match.“But such is football and you look at a big club like Manchester United when the likes of Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, that generation, when they went out United struggled a bit.

“Just like Dynamos we won four league titles and then there was a massive exodus, you cannot turn the tide in an instant. It’s a process,” said Mutasa. The Herald