admin
Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS captain Tawanda Muparati believes the two Bulawayo games that they will play against Highlanders and Chicken Inn will have a huge bearing on their title defence that has taken a knock in the last two weeks. His counterpart at Highlanders, Innocent Mapuranga, says they are not losing sleep over the impending Battle of the Titans.
In interviews yesterday, the captains of the country’s two biggest clubs spoke highly of their clubs’ championship chances, setting the stage for a big encounter in Week 25.
“Being a match featuring the top two sides, one would want to believe that whoever will win the battle will stand a better chance but to us as Highlanders players, that is just another match in the league.
We have told ourselves that we must and I repeat we must grab as many points as possible and not worry about Dynamos because if we concentrate on the Dynamos match, we might lose focus,” said Mapuranga.
Muparati, however, admitted that their visit to Bulawayo will decide the direction of the Castle Lager Premiership title although he said all the other matches will be treated with due care.
Dynamos dropped three points against Hwange who mauled them 2-4 on Wednesday last week and dropped two more points when Monomotapa held them to a 0-0 draw at Rufaro Stadium.
On the other hand Highlanders picked up maximum points against FC Platinum, beating them 2-1 and picked up a crucial point away to Buffaloes at Sakubva Stadium on Sunday.
Mapuranga who also believes the championship race is still wide open, said the team never lost hope when it went through a terrible spell in which they managed only eight points out of a possible 24 in their worst run under Zambian coach Kelvin Kaindu.
Bosso’s championship chances seemed all but over and that reality was almost confirmed following a 0-1 loss to local rivals How Mine.
But their campaign was brought back by a sudden urge to win at all costs by the boys while their rivals, Dynamos and Harare City failed to record wins in the last two games.
He said Kaindu kept on urging them to think positively and not let the bad spell affect them. Following Dynamos’ 4-2 pummelling by Hwange, Highlanders suddenly found themselves back in contention with a spirited 2-1 win over FC Platinum in a game that in all honesty should have gone to the platinum miners but the Highlanders players showed a rare never-say-die spirit.
Another good performance against Buffaloes saw them collect a valuable point on the road and cut Dynamos’ lead to just a point.
Highlanders though seem to find it hard to collect maximum points at Sakubva Stadium against Buffaloes as even during those trailblazing years under Rahman Gumbo, where they seemed to crush everything in their path, they still could not collect maximum points against the soldiers.
In fact their 3 June 2001 encounter in which the soldiers won 2-0 is believed to have cost Gumbo his job. That year Highlanders lost eight games the entire season but still managed to win the title, three points clear of AmaZulu who had five losses.
“Our chances of lifting the title are still there, it’s a matter of hard work on our part and the rest will fall into place,” said Mapuranga, one of the few players who could return to the Castle Lager Soccer Stars of the Year calendar.
In probably the biggest upset of the weekend games, How Mine were whacked 0-3 by relegation threatened Black Rhinos at Luveve Stadium.
After meeting and dismissing the soldiers in the Mbada Diamonds Cup, Philani “Beefy” Ncube’s boys might have been thinking about the potentially bruising quarter-final clash with Dynamos at Rufaro Stadium.
Chicken Inn came from behind to draw 1-1 with visiting Harare City who are third on the standings, level with Highlanders on points but have an inferior goal difference.
Harare City and Highlanders though have the most lethal scoring rate, having scored 33 goals each. Resurgent Hwange who have not lost a game in three competitive outings, kept their survival fight alive with a well fought 2-2 against Triangle at Gibbo Stadium.
Online Reporter