daniel chigunwe
Robson Sharuko
Editor
THE sensational fallout in the Dynamos camp, which has led to a raft of suspensions, was triggered by gross indiscipline in their camp and concerns that some of the cheap food, secured at budget restaurants in Francistown, could affect the players’ performance.
The revelations paint a picture of a club which was in turmoil and this might have played a big part in the way the Glamour Boys collapsed and blew a golden opportunity to qualify for the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Lloyd “MaBlanyo” Chigowe’s men had their fate in their hands as they carried a 1-0 lead over Orapa going into the second leg of the qualifier in Francistown where a draw would have been enough to take them through.
A guaranteed cash jackpot of US$400 000 would have awaited them in the group stages.
Instead, DeMbare missed a first-half penalty, which would have taken them out of sight, and then conceded, for the first time in this Confederation Cup campaign, to help Orapa tie the aggregate score 1-1.
The Glamour Boys then connived to miss penalty after penalty, in the shootout, and were well beaten in the lottery.
A number of analysts have said success for DeMbare would have triggered a lot of excitement among their fans, bringing a significant number of them back to the stadiums.
The country’s biggest and most successful football club was once considered the cash cow of the domestic Premiership but it has seen its attendance figures plummet over the years with the lack of success driving their supporters away.
MaBlanyo, who has breathed some life into these Glamour Boys after a poor start to the campaign, has escaped criticism with many analysts praising him for doing his best under challenging circumstances.
However, his assistant Murape Murape and director of football, Richard Chihoro, have been suspended in the wake of the doomed mission in Botswana.
Physiotherapist Admire Pataingwa has also been suspended while team manager, Harry Lusengo, is only hanging on because his father, Bernard Marriot, is the most powerful man at the club.
However, it is the revelations that the conditions in camp were not ideal ones for such professional athletes to be in their best conditions for such a tough assignment, which is likely to disappoint the DeMbare fans.
“For a start, the food wasn’t the right one for professional footballers set for such a big assignment,” said the sources.
“We ended up with some players struggling with stomach strains after the consumption of that cheap food.
“It was as if the club had settled on the cheapest food available and this affected some of our players and it became very clear, in the days leading to the big game, that they were not in the best of conditions.
“In professional sport, what an athlete eats is very important and we failed on this one and even some of the officials, who have knowledge of the impact of these things on the performance of players, started to question some of these things.
“Of course, at our club, this is a risky thing to do and that is why, all of a sudden, you are seeing all this drama of suspensions resurfacing at our club.”
Another source added:
“If you see our level of performance, we were fine in the first half but then we were at a lower level in the second half.
“These things take a toll on professional players.
“The surprise was that we were fighting to win US$400 000 yet our players were being fed food that cost probably US$5 and it was not the best food for professional athletes.”
Online Reporter