Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
PREMIER Soccer League giants Dynamos get into their Chibuku Super Cup contest in high spirits, buoyed by Technical Director Aristica Cioaba’s feat after the Romanian bagged the Coach of the Month accolade for July.
Hardrock’s Warriors forward Washington Navaya was named the Player of the Month for the period under review.
Cioaba joined Dynamos in the first week of July, completing his month unbeaten after taking charge of four games.
Under the Romanian mentor, Dynamos recorded three wins and a draw to remain the only unbeaten side. Cioba’s men also spent the month without conceding a goal while scoring seven. That fine run catapulted Dynamos three places up into third on the log standings.
During that same month, DeMbare also recorded their biggest league win in nearly a decade when beating AGAMA 4-0.
They registered such an emphatic win when thumping Chapungu on June 18, 2017.
Buoyed by the fine league run, Cioaba is expected to inspire Dynamos from the dugout to a fourth successive Chibuku Super Cup.
“Dynamos is a big club, so everything that we do here needs double the effort compared to other clubs,” said Cioaba.
“A big club needs to protect its image, so here at Dynamos we need to win at least one Cup so that people can continue to respect us for the giant that we are.” Dynamos now have the league championship and the Chibuku Super Cup to chase after being bundled out of the ZIFA Munhumutapa Challenge Cup and being disqualified from the CAF Confederation Cup.
“We should protect the club’s identity, so even our mentality should be that of fighters, and only that way can we win some silverware.
“With our stature as a club, we should be looking at the top race in every competition that we enter. “This is now a different competition; we need a different strategy, and from my experience, we need more concentration in such games because you only get one chance to fight and make it to the next round. In the league, we are fighting for a top four finish, and now that we are in the top three we have to maintain, but we do not want to put the boys under a lot of pressure,” Cioaba added. In his coaching career, Cioaba has won five international cups, and he will now be aiming to become the fourth man in as many successive seasons to guide Dynamos to yet another Chibuku Super Cup triumph.
Genesis Mangombe, Lloyd Chigowe and Kelvin Kaindu have, between 2023-2025, led Dynamos to success. Cioba must first negotiate the opening round hurdle posed by league strugglers TelOne before he can dream of leading Dynamos to an extension of their Chibuku Cup record. It will be TelOne coach Joel Luphahla’s first game in charge since he replaced the axed Saul Chaminuka at the start of the week.
But DeMbare captain Shadreck Nyahwa insists they will not be fooled by TelOne’s lowly league position.
