admin
Augustine Hwata Senior Sports Reporter
DESPITE being the most famous football brand in Zimbabwe, giants Dynamos could endure a road trip to Gaborone, Botswana, for their African Champions League preliminary round, second leg match against Mochudi Centre Chiefs this weekend. Dynamos enjoy a healthy 3-0 lead from the reverse fixture at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday after Washington Pakamisa scored a brace while Masimba Mambare added the other goal on a rain swept afternoon.
Now DeMbare are hoping to defend their advantage in the reverse leg, but their failure to land a major sponsor for the campaign could see the Glamour Boys covering the 1 069km journey by road, as they have little in their coffers for this African Safari adventure.
Dynamos’ principal sponsors BancABC stated that they will not be able to fund the team’s campaign in the African Champions League although they are ready to help in the domestic matches.
Club secretary Webster Chikengezha yesterday pointed out that they could be leaving for Gaborone on Thursday by road for the game scheduled for Sunday.
Chikengezha said the club’s financial position makes it difficult for them to travel by air using the available options of flying directly on an Air Botswana plane or via Johannesburg.
“At the moment we are still considering our options with one of them being to travel by road. Maybe, we could leave early on Thursday and arrive later in the day,” said Chikengezha.
Travelling to Gaborone by road from Harare takes an average of 17 hours and Dynamos are proposing to have another two buses to ferry their supporters to Botswana.
“If we want to travel via South Africa, then we are likely to spend twice as much than on the direct flight,” said Chikengezha.
“The challenge for the direct flight is that it leaves Harare on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“So if we leave early, it means we will have to foot the costs for the extra days while travelling on Saturday is tricky since we will arrive at night.
“It means our players will have very little time to acclimatise before they go into the match on Sunday, so if we could leave on Thursday by road, we get a little rest on Friday before feeling the match venue on Saturday.”
Dynamos have one leg in the first round where they are expected to play either AS Vita of DRC or Nigeria’s Kano Pillars.
The Harare giants’ last visit to Gaborone in the Champions League ended in a 1-0 defeat to Gaborone United in 2010 although they prevailed 4-2 on aggregate.
Inspirational Dynamos skipper Murape Murape is happy that the football gods smiled at them when they overcame a lethargic start to win.
The visitors were left blasting referee Anibal Antonio for awarding the hosts a penalty, for their second goal, which they claim changed the game.
“I would like to say tough luck to Mochudi FC and on our part this was our first game and I think we have done well. Getting three goals at home will give us an advantage when we go to Botswana for the return leg.
“We had the guys who are coming from the national team and only had four days to work together, so I am satisfied with that (result) but we should have scored more goals considering the chances that we got.
“At this level of competition, we have to bury all the chances that come our way and I hope we work on our weaknesses where we came short,” said Murape.
Murape said Dynamos should continue keeping their defence tight.
“When we go to Botswana, we are not going to sit back and defend our three goals, but we are searching for an away goal.
“I think we can only improve with more game time and tough luck to Botswana (Mochudi) because they are crying over the penalty.
“It’s part of football, as Dynamos, we are happy that decision went our way and we capitalised on that,” said Murape
Mochudi Centre Chiefs skipper, Ponthso Moloi, remains hopeful that they will overturn the deficit and progress to the next round.
“We cannot say much about the result because we lost the game. We do not take anything away from Dynamos, they scored three goals here and we can also do the same at our home as well or even more.
“So it will be a good game for everyone to watch,” said Moloi.
Online Reporter