CAPS cast green spell

shadow that their impressive form, and their delirious fans, cast over the Castle Lager Premiership showdown between Dynamos and Motor Action.
The Green Machine had swept away a brave Shabanie 4-0 at the same venue on Saturday, their third straight win in as many matches, taking their goal tally to 14 and, crucially, finding a way to stop their goal leak.
But as bitter rivals Dynamos struggled in yet another barren 90-minute spell at Rufaro yesterday, their third straight match without a goal since scoring four times against MC Alger in a Champions League tie, the Green Machine shadow began to loom large.
The misfiring Glamour Boys haven’t scored a goal, since Farai Vimisayi struck their fourth goal in the 4-1 demolition of MC Alger at Rufaro three weeks ago, firing blanks against the Algerians in Algiers and against Kiglon and Motor Action in home affairs.
And, after more than 270 minutes of sterility, it was probably justifiable that a section of their fans should show the first signs of concern, over the state of their team, with a group in the Vietnam Stand shouting at the players as they prayed after yesterday’s loss.
Opinion remains deeply divided, among the Dynamos fans, over coach Lloyd Mutasa and it was clearly evident yesterday that the majority of them, despite the considerable pain brought about by the three straight defeats, still believe in their gaffer.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, they said, and it turned into a convenient phrase for refugee status by the Dynamos fans yesterday, as they digested the pain of a lifeless display by their team, the loss of another three points and the salt rubbed into their wounds by CAPS United supporters.
Time is certainly not on Mutasa’s side now and his situation is being worsened by the events at the Green Machine, which swept to a third straight win in the league, and the beauty of the free spirit of attacking football that CAPS United have adopted.
For these were the values that Mutasa appeared to be using in building his project at Dynamos and, when they rolled past everything in pre-season, and crushed MC Alger in the Champions League, they appeared well on track. DeMbare fans were happy and Mutasa was feted as the biggest coaching miracle to happen to Zimbabwean football since Reinhard Fabisch arrived here from Germany and went about building a Dream Team that charmed a nation.
“I think Mutasa is Zimbabwe’s Pep Guardiola,” said one fan in the cyberspace celebrations that followed the win over MC Alger.
“I’m seeing the class of Barca, the spirit of Man U, the youth of Arsenal, the defence of Italy, the voice of the Kop and the royalty of Real Madrid in this Dynamos team.”
Yesterday it was hard to believe this was the same Dynamos that had overwhelmed MC Alger that afternoon as their defence, vulnerable don the flanks, donated possession like a drunk Father Christmas unaware that the festive spirit is still eight months away.
The midfield was so dysfunctional that the Mighty Bulls had a field day and Denver Mukamba and Archie Gutu both failed to stamp the kind of authority that their supporters had hoped for and that their team wanted.
Mutasa stuck with his one-striker formation for most of the game, giving Patrick Khumbula the role up-front, but it soon became clear that he wasn’t the kind of forward blessed with the talent to hold possession, a quality needed in such a role, while others converge for the kill.
Either his first touch was poor or his options were wrong, it all kept going wrong for Khumbula in a nightmarish first half and, even when he was offered a chance for redemption with a golden chance, he sent his free header, from close range, into the arms of Marlon Jani.
By then some of the Dynamos fans had long concluded he wasn’t the man they could bank on and the whistles from the stands, calling for him to be pulled out and freed from his misery, said it all.
But there was no escaping the CAPS United shadow at Rufaro yesterday.
And the more that Khumbula tried, and failed, to make an impact, the more that Evans Gwekwerere’s superb performance, 24 hours earlier, assumed its true identity as a class act from a forward who now knows the terrain in the domestic Premiership.
Gwekwerere struck an early contender for the Goal of The Season award in the second half of CAPS United’s 4-0 romp over a Shabanie side that fought bravely in the first period but collapsed once the Green Machine found its range.
A ball pumped cross field found Gwekwerere in ambush on the left channel and he used his head, to guide it past his marker and steal a yard, and then charge free wide on that flank.
Two touches later, and still in full flow, Gwekwerere fired a volley, with the outside of his right foot and from an angle outside the box, that was full of venom it flew past the goalkeeper like missile and sent the fans into dreamland.
It was Gwekwerere’s second goal, in three matches, for the Green Machine and while Dynamos still look to break the duck in the league, their biggest rivals now have scored 14 in three matches.
As CAPS United fans burst into the Gwekwerere Bhora signature song, which rhymes beautifully with the Kepekepe Bhora tune, they all appeared to be singing while pointing in the direction of the Vietnam Stand. For Vietnam had risen to give Shabanie a warm welcome to Rufaro, shortly before the start of the match, and to give them the assurance that they were certainly not walking alone in this battle.
The CAPS United fans also remembered that, only three weeks ago, Gwekwerere’s name had been mocked, in a number of songs, by the Dynamos fans in their moment of triumph over the Algerians.
Today some of those Green Machine fans will certainly find it worthwhile to remind their Dynamos rivals that Gwekwerere has so far scored twice, in two straight matches, and has a personal tally better than the entire Glamour Boys team over two matches.
But to suggest that the CAPS United goal machine is all about Gwekwerere will be a blatant lie.
Teenage striker Simba Sithole, signed from Shooting Stars during the off-season, has brought pace and raw strength in the CAPS United attack and, on Saturday, he grabbed his fifth goal in three matches.
After a hattrick against Zimbabwe Saints and a goal against the Wild Boys, Sithole was on target again on Saturday as he headed home the insurance goal that the Green Machine had been looking for to give themselves the freedom to play their style of football.
Strong and athletic, Sithole impressed with his contribution all afternoon and such was his impact that, when the fourth official made a mistake to indicate he was the one to be pulled out, the entire CAPS United family loudly said NO!
Working in tandem with Gwekwerere, he kept finding his spaces on either flanks – drifting wide all the time and coming in – and two qualities stood out, his good first touch and his clever off the ball runs.
Young Norest Mkwezaramba, a name that is certain to be a big feature in Zimbabwean football in the next few years, scored his maiden goal for CAPS United after his move from Lengthens – a wonder strike also volleyed home first time from the edge of the area.
Stephen Alimenda, the steel in the CAPS United machine, sealed the deal with a similar struck, firing home from the edge of the area and, to Moses Chunga’s satisfaction, all the four goals on Saturday came from different players.
Chunga was at Rufaro yesterday and, as he left the stadium, a group of Dynamos fans said it was time for Bambo to come back home again.
But Chunga said he still had a job to do at CAPS United and, for a man who has had his fair share of frosty relations with his team’s fans, the silent message was that the supporters should throw their support behind Mutasa.
There has been a significant improvement in relations between Chunga and the CAPS United fans in the past three weeks and he was given a standing ovation, as he saluted them, after the win over Shabanie.
Mutasa still has the goodwill of the majority of the Dynamos fans on his side but, from his vantage point yesterday, he must also felt the salt being rubbed into the wounds of his team’s fans by their CAPS United rivals.
Embracing the Mighty Bulls as their own team, the CAPS fans clearly had fun at Rufaro yesterday and, as reality dawned on the DeMbare supporters that there would be no comeback, and some started leaving the stadium, the Northern Stand responded with calls for them not to jump ship.
It’s still early days in this marathon but, as they say, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. CAPS United have nine birds and Dynamos have none and, even when the Green Machine are inactive, it’s hard for the Glamour Boys to escape their shadow.