Mutasa now believes

By Austin Karonga

Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa is confident his young side will be able to turn around their season following their triumph in the Uhuru Cup on Tuesday.

The Glamour Boys won the tournament after beating Highlanders 3-2 on penalties after the final had ended 1-1 in regulation time at the National Sports Stadium.

To win the tournament, the youthful DeMbare side had to do it the hard way.

In the semi-final, DeMbare dug deep to beat city rivals CAPS United 1-0 during in a match greatly affected by a heavy downpour last Sunday at the same venue.

However, this form in the Uhuru Cup contradicts their fortunes in the league where they are yet to register a win in two matches.

The Harare giants began their 2017 Castle Lager Premiership season with a 0-1 loss to FC Platinum despite dominating possession.

In their second match, DeMbare blew a two-goal lead before drawing 2-2 with Triangle at Gibbo Stadium.

Having dispatched two of the country’s biggest teams on their way to glory, Mutasa now has faith in his side’s capabilities of getting positive results in the league.

“I was quite impressed with the youngsters that we blooded in the match (final) and giving them such enormous responsibility to take the decisive spot kicks gives them a lot of confidence heading into any kind of assignment and against any side,” Mutasa told the Daily News.

“Prior to getting into the match, I told the young guys that games of this magnitude are where stars are born and at the same time careers destroyed.

“If you are to play well, then it will take a long time for people to forget about you giving them examples of players they can relate to- the likes of Denver (Mukamba) or even (Roderick) Mutuma.

“The stadium was filled to the rafters and they have passed that test of playing before a capacity ground and even when they play before an empty stadium they won’t be deterred.”

Mutasa wants to see his side carry their cup form into the league as they are scheduled to travel to the Colliery this weekend to face Hwange.

“We are trying to do better than we did yesterday (Uhuru  Cup), better than we did last year; we finished in fifth place last season and we all know that we are capable of doing better than we did,” he said.

On Tuesday, DeMbare had taken a 58th minute lead through winger Masimba Mambare before veteran forward Ralph Matema equalised from the spot for Bosso deep in injury time.

The Glamour Boys felt aggrieved because Bosso were awarded the spot-kick after the additional three minutes of injury time had lapsed.

“It’s an element of faith; we had to believe that we were going to win the Cup no matter the circumstances we found ourselves in,” Mutasa said.

“Naturally, conceding a goal that late in a winner-take-all situation when we had dominated proceedings for greater parts of the match would mean momentum shifting to the opposition but where there is a will there is a way.

“We instilled a lot of confidence in the young boys including in the toughest of situations’ having trailed Bosso after missing our own spot-kicks and we give praise to God always for seeing us through.” Daily News