By Godknows Matarutse
HARARE giants Dynamos could unleash Takesure Chinyama, for one last time, on the domestic Premiership at Barbourfields on Sunday with the Zimbabwe international now set to seal his move to Orlando Pirates a day after the showdown.
The Buccaneers’ manager, Stanley “Screamer” Tshabalala, was in Harare yesterday and held marathon meetings with the Glamour Boys’ leadership to thrash out the final phase of the deal for Chinyama to move to the South African champions.
Neither of the two parties were at liberty to discuss the latest phase of their negotiations, but sources expect a deal to be tied by this weekend with the player being unveiled on Monday. Chinyama has already passed his medical at Pirates and they have agreed terms and Tshabalala yesterday was here to discuss the transfer fee payable to the Harare giants.
Yesterday, Chinyama resumed light training, after picking a knock in Angola during DeMbare’s failed Confederation Cup adventure, where they fell 0-1 to Interclube. Winger, Farai Mupasiri, who impressed when he finally made his debut in the 6-0 demolition of Blue Rangers, also did light training yesterday.
“Chinyama did light training after picking up a knock in Angola and Mupasiri also picked up a knock when he was away with the national team in Botswana, but we will have to assess them tomorrow (today) before we select the team,” said DeMbare assistant coach, Tonderai Ndiraya.
Young defender, Partson Jaure, was also carried off the pitch at yesterday’s training session with a cut on his forehead. Participation in the continental club competitions has seen Dynamos accumulating a backlog of fixtures and they now face a difficult task of clearing the matches before the resumption of the second half of the season.
With most teams in the Castle Lager Premiership taking a two-week break, Dynamos are playing catch-up and visit Highlanders this Sunday before a blood-and-thunder derby against CAPS United. They also have a trip to Mandava for a date against FC Platinum. If DeMbare win their games in hand, they will go top of the table, but that is easier said than done.
Bosso are unbeaten in 14 matches and are currently perched at the top of the table after making one of their best starts to a season in recent years. Highlanders are enjoying a new lease of life under Zambian mentor Kelvin Kaindu as they have amassed 32 points while Dynamos are seventh on the log table with 23 points and four games in hand.
Ndiraya is not worried about Bosso’s good run so far this season and feels their unbeaten run will actually work in Dynamos’ favour. “Highlanders are a good side. They have done well going for 14 matches unbeaten and we expect a tough game,” said Ndiraya.
“We have a good record against Highlanders, but this is a new game all together and anything can happen. These are the types of games where players need to go and fight hard because there is a lot of pressure since Dynamos and Highlanders are the best supported teams in the country.
“Such games shape up players and if our players can manage to handle the atmosphere we will hand them their first defeat of the season. The fact, that they are unbeaten will actually motivate us to hand them their first defeat of the season.”
Ndiraya also highlighted the importance of starting with the experienced lot as he feels young players might fail to rise to the occasion. “We might want to start with experience given the magnitude of the game, but we will see tomorrow when we select our final team,” added Ndiraya.
Despite the likelihood of the absence of inspirational goalkeeper, Washington Arubi, who is in South Africa angling for a move to Pretoria University, Ndiraya feels they have enough cover in the form of George Chigova. New signing Cliff Sekete has been training with the team for the past week, but reports indicate that his papers are yet to be sorted out.
“We were told that Arubi went to South Africa and chances are he might come back in time for our game against Highlanders, but if fails to come we have good replacement. Chigova will take over and I have a lot of confidence in his abilities.
Sekete’s papers are not yet done, but we expect them to be finalised tomorrow (today). That’s when we can see whether he will feature or not,” said Ndiraya. The Herald
