FRANCISTOWN – From a much anticipated ninety minutes of glory and history making, to ninety minutes of disappointment and agony.
This describes the painful story of Zimbabwean giants Dynamos’ elimination in the CAF Confederations Cup by Orapa United.
The Glamour Boys lost 3-1 on penalties on Sunday in Francistown, Botswana.
Dynamos were ninety minutes away from qualifying for the group stages when they went into the crucial encounter which was the second leg of the second round of the competition.
They were carrying a 1-0 advantage having came out victorious in the first leg last weekend.
Valentine Kadonzvo’s solitary strike in the dying stages of the match gave them a glimmer of hope to reach the group stages.
Unfortunately, Orapa United had other plans.
They overturned the result, winning the second leg with a similar scoreline (1-0) resulting in a 1-1 goal aggregate.
Ivan Kamberipa headed home with a few minutes left to full time after a free kick was delivered into the box and DeMabre’s defense failed to deal with it.
This forced a penalty shoot out which Orapa went on to win 3-1, knocking out DeMbare who posed as favourites before the match.
But the result marked a disappointing end to the Glamour Boys’ continental campaign.
Already, their hopes were dashed when veteran defender Kevin Moyo missed a crucial penalty which could have doubled their advantage in the first half.
With the result, DeMbare lost out on a lucrative US$400 000 windfall, the prize money that CAF grants teams who qualify for the Confederations Cup group stages.
