Mutasa pins DeMbare’s woes on Ntouba’s absence
By Nigel Matongorere
Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa is increasingly getting frustrated with the absence of star striker Christian Ntouba as the Glamour Boys’ struggles in the Castle Lager Premiership continue.
DeMbare were beaten 1-0 by Ngezi Platinum Stars on Thursday at Baobab Stadium with the Cameroonian unavailable again.
Ntouba has gone on industrial action since the start of the season as he wants the club to pay him his outstanding signing-on fees and salary from last year.
The Cameroonian is owed $16 000 and the club has admitted that they are broke and cannot raise the funds to cover the debt.
As a result of the impasse, Ntouba has missed the Glamour Boys’ opening three matches of the season in which they have lost 1-0 to Chicken Inn, drew 3-3 with Shabanie Mine together with Thursday’s loss to Madamburo.
It is in their latest outing against Ngezi Platinum that Ntouba’s absence was clearly felt as DeMbare could only manage to register one shot on target the entire 90 minutes.
Quality Kangadzi has been trusted to lead the DeMbare attack in the meantime and has scored only once in the draw with Shabanie.
After the match, Mutasa admitted that the Cameroonian’s absence has been a great disappointment with no solution in sight.
“It’s a 50-50 situation and I wouldn’t want to talk much about it. I think it’s an administrative issue,” Mutasa said.
“Obviously the reason why we brought him here (from Cameroon) is because he is part and parcel of our puzzle but there are some times in life when you should know where to start and where to end; there are some certain things you cannot control.
“It’s not everyday that you get what you want and such is life.”
With another tough assignment on Easter Monday against Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium, Mutasa backed his players to bounce back quickly.
“Obviously, as a team you want to win every match you play but at the moment we have lost two and drawn one,” the DeMbare coach said.
“If you think that you are already dead and buried, there will be no room to recover. We have been in this situation before and we are a team that will be able to recover and be close to other teams.” Daily News
