By Robson Sharuko
Record-winners Dynamos have been enduring a horror start to their 2018 Castle Lager Premiership campaign which has so far seen them drop twice as many points as they have won in an adventure in which they have been flirting with relegation trouble.
The Glamour Boys dropped two more points in their last match as they settled for a draw against Black Rhinos at Rufaro on Thursday, but what again dominated conversations among analysts and their fans was the mediocrity of their show on another forgettable afternoon for them.
Coach Biggie Zuze, who bravely chose to remain with his strugglers rather than be with his relatives who were mourning his late uncle in Bindura, in a refreshing display of loyalty to the Glamour Boys’ cause, decided to concentrate on the few positives.
Like his substitute Quality Kangadzi coming off the bench to score the equaliser for his side, but the former midfield kingpin knows, deep down in his heart, that the glaring lack of quality in his side will not take these misfiring Glamour Boys anywhere.
Some have even suggested that this is the worst collection of Glamour Boys in history and they might not be far off the mark because, at times, it has been difficult to find anything to appreciate in players who are so short in quality and long on mediocrity.
Others have questioned the passion among these players, to fight for the badge, but the grim reality is that their average talents can only take them so far and they have been doing the best they can trying to represent a club whose ambitions far outweigh their abilities.
In those borrowed blue-and-white robes they have been huffing and puffing, hoping to shine, but the sheer weight of the expectations from the fans, used to seeing genuine superstars like Moses Chunga, Memory Mucherahowa, Vitalis Takawira, Tauya Murewa and George Shaya representing them, has been too much for these wannabes.
Their case hasn’t been helped either by a leadership that appears divorced from the challenges which this giant club is facing and somehow believe that this collection of average footballers will punch above their weight and, because they are Dynamos, their name will help them frighten the opposition.
When the national coach, Sunday Chidzambwa, a Dynamos legend himself, now calls a Warriors side without even one of their men in that team, no one among the leaders see that as a sign of the decay that has crept into these Glamour Boys and, to them, it’s business as usual.
When the entire Dynamos team scores just three goals more than the number of goals which Terrence Dzvukamanja has scored on his own in the colours of leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars this season, it doesn’t even provoke these leaders into realising the dire situation that now confronts their club.
When, after 13 games, their team finds itself having scored as many goals as newboys Nichrut, just 11 goals in the campaign, somehow it doesn’t provide a message to this club’s leadership that something is certainly wrong in how they have assembled these misfits.
And, clearly, something is certainly wrong over the way they have been going around RUINING, instead of RUNNING, this proud domestic football establishment.
That bottom club Mutare City Rovers, who have looked hopeless in elite company after somehow investing their trust in a number of players who have long lost their ability to perform at this level, have conceded only one more goal than this miserable DeMbare side at this point of the campaign, should have been enough, if ever they needed any evidence, that their poor project is collapsing before their very eyes.
The reality is that Dynamos are only one point above relegation trouble and should they fail to win against Herentals tomorrow, while Nichrut, Bulawayo Chiefs, ZPC Kariba and Chapungu pick maximum points, they will sink into the bottom three on the table.
But, maybe, for a team that once slipped to the bottom of the table this season, some will say that won’t represent a disaster, but such is the way these Glamour Boys have become very ordinary they find it acceptable to be having the likes of Nichrut, Bulawayo Chiefs and Mutare City for company in the bottom half.
There is already a 22-point gap between these Glamour Boys and leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars which means that, even if Tonderai Ndiraya and his men decide to donate all points from their next seven matches, Dynamos will still not catch up with them even if they were to win all their next seven games.
They are 11 points behind their big rivals Highlanders who, just like them, brought in a number of some new players into their ranks at the beginning of the season. Even in the season when they flirted with relegation in 2005, where they needed a victory in Masvingo on the final day to be guaranteed a place in the league, they had 17 points — four more than what they have now — in their first 13 matches and they blasted Black Rhinos 3-1 courtesy of a hattrick from Givemore Manuela.
Of course, maybe, let’s not only look at the dark side.
After all, these are the Glamour Boys, a club that has set the benchmark for success in our football and which, when they win, also translate to more copies of this newspaper being sold on the streets because they have the biggest number of fans in this country.
Let’s give them a cheer that their 13 points, from as many games, can also translate to a campaign in which they have not lost a game all season and, given they have already fallen half-a-dozen times, that could be something refreshing.
However, if we go by such a formula, it also means they have not won a game all season.
Cheer up DeMbare, after all, their fans have now resorted to finding comfort in the phrase, “chikuru kufema,’’ as they try to find a way out of the storm. The Herald
