Mutasa happy with full house
By Eddie Chikamhi
Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa is happy with the full house that reported for duty ahead of their clash against bitter rivals Highlanders in the pre-season Commander ZNA Charities Soccer final at the National Sports Stadium this Sunday.
Normalcy returned to the Dynamos camp yesterday after the senior players, who had been on industrial action, resumed training following the payment of their dues. And, with the countdown to the new season which gets underway on March 10 fast looming, Mutasa said he was looking to recover lost ground as his side had lost nine days of training due to the disturbances that rocked their camp.
“I am happy, today I had a full house except for Emmanuel Mandiranga, who has a strained muscle. The spirit is up there and the competition for places is very high. It’s something that is very encouraging for any coach. This is the scenario that we have always wanted from the onset.
“It’s unfortunate we met some disturbances along the way. This was supposed to be Week Six for us, but if you look at it, we lost about nine days, which is a week and some days. It’s some considerable time in terms of pre-season training.
“So we can no longer speak of six weeks. It (the strike) really affected us in terms of fitness and other training programmes that we would have wanted to accomplish,” said Mutasa.
The Glamour Boys players refused to train, demanding to be paid what they were owed by the club dating back to last season. The senior players even boycotted the semi-finals of the Commander ZNA Charities match against CAPS United, forcing the coach to field a largely inexperienced side against Lloyd Chitembwe’s veterans.
But the young players still sprung a huge surprise, when they posted a shock 1-0 win courtesy of a well struck second half goal by rising midfielder Kudzanai “KD’’ Dhemere.
Mutasa, however, said the strike is now behind them and is looking to fielding his best team against Highlanders on Sunday.
“Such is football. In this field, it’s very common that you meet such hurdles. So we don’t have to keep crying over that, we have to find our way back. We are very much focused on the game against Highlanders. Everyone is itching for it and we will have to see how we can blend those that played last week and some of the senior players that are coming back,” said Mutasa.
Skipper Ocean Mushure, Obey Mwerahari, Quality Kangadze, Emmanuel Mandiranga and Gift Saunyama have been conspicuous by their absence. New acquisitions Raphael Manuvire, Jimmy Tigere and Marvellous Mukumba have also been unavailable for training.
“Everything has normalised. The contentious issues have been settled, all the players are back at training and we are happy to move forward together as Dynamos family. We are calling on our supporters to come in their numbers on Sunday and support this noble cause by the Zimbabwe National Army.
“We are even looking beyond the ZNA Charities tournament. We have to perform better than we did last season,” said Dynamos secretary-general Webster Marechera.
DeMbare finished second last season and want to go for the championship this year. The Herald
