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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE CAF Confederation Cup has come with more casualties for Harare giants Dynamos after defender Kelvin Moyo became the latest injury casualty of their back-to-back preliminary round qualifier against Zambia’s ZESCO United at the weekend.
The versatile defender played 68 minutes of the two sides’ second-leg encounter which ended in a goalless draw, before he was taken out with a tendon problem.
DeMbare weathered a ZESCO storm in that reverse fixture at Levy Mwanawasa stadium in Ndola, Zambia to emerge 1-0 aggregate winners, thanks to their slender first-leg victory at their adopted National Stadium home ground in Gaborone, Botswana.
Namibian import Sadney Uri-Khob was the first major casualty when he also suffered a tendon problem in the first leg, much to the disappointment of the coach Lloyd Chigowe and his technical team.
Uri-Khob had been walking with the aid of crutches and the bustling striker has been under close watch of the medical team.
“It looked like it was serious but at least he can now walk on his own without the aid of the sticks. He is recovering and at the same time it’s unfortunate Kelvin also picked up a tendon injury on Sunday.
“That is why he could not finish the game in Zambia at the weekend. He is one of our key players and we are praying for a quick recovery,” Chigowe said.
“But we are not that much worried because if you saw the player that replaced him Nomore Chinyerere; he gave a good shift in that position.
We can play him in different positions, and he adapts well. Nomore was also injured before this game but he recovered quickly.
“So, in terms of our defence, we are not worried much. We also have Elvis Moyo, who is coming back from a long-term injury,” said Chigowe.
Ghanaian midfielder Frederick Ansa-Botchway has also been out with injury for some time now.
Dynamos are now set to play Botswana’s Orapa United in the second round of the CAF Confederation Cup campaign. The modest Botswana side beat Foresters of Seychelles 3-1 on aggregate to advance to the next stage.
DeMbare will begin the second leg away in Botswana over the weekend of September 13-15 before the return leg a week later.
Unfortunately, Dynamos does not have the privilege to play on home soil since local stadiums have failed to get CAF certification.
Chigowe believes their defence will be the mainstay of their campaign after Dynamos kicked off their campaign in Africa with two clean sheets.
ZESCO came to the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium to get at least an early goal to cancel out Tanaka Shandirwa’s first-leg strike.
And they duly forced Dynamos to spend most of the first period pegged back in their half as the Glamour Boys repelled the pressure from the hosts for the duration of the game.
“We had a great performance from the defence and our goalkeeper. Of course, ZESCO United were desperate for the goals; they played with great intensity, but we had a game plan.
“ZESCO United are not a small team, they are perennial campaigners in Africa, and you could tell they were so sure to overturn the first leg deficit. I am sure they also had a budget for that but we left them with an egg on the face,” said Chigowe.
Dynamos are now 180 minutes away from the group stages.
But they have to use the coming days on drills to improve their finishing.
The Glamour Boys currently do not have a reliable scorer as has also been reflected in the domestic league where they have scored a paltry 20 goals from 23 outings.
“We will build around the players that we have at our disposal. Under the circumstances, we cannot be dependent on one or two players.
“We would rather have more players take the initiative of scoring goals. For instance, in the first leg, we had Tanaka Shandirwa scoring for us after a long time and that goal has proved crucial.
“We had wanted at least two goals in the first leg, and we got one. So, we will continue working hard.
“The focus in this tournament is now on our next game. Our performance analyst Ashley Ndebele is compiling the details of our opponents. He did that with ZESCO United and was spot on.
“We have also not lost sight that we need to defend the Chibuku Super Cup as well as we continue with the fight in the league race,” said Chigowe.
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