DeMbare feel Makopa blow

Rades Stadium in Tunis.
Makopa will sit out Saturday night’s tie having picked two yellow cards in the first round matches against Mozambique’s Liga Muculmana.
The diminutive midfielder, a box to box player, had been expected to play a major role in Saturday’s tie but now Pasuwa has been forced to make last minute adjustments as he had already travelled with the player to Tunis.
¨Milton’s suspension is a big blow to us because these are big games and you need experienced and hardened players like him. He has been playing as a defensive linkman and was going to be very useful in this match because that’s the position we are plotting our strategy around. But well, I have three or four other players to fill the void. It is an opportunity for youngsters like Timire Mamvura to show he can play at a stage like this one,¨ Pasuwa said.
Mamvura, who enjoyed a brilliant season last year, had not seen much action this year with a previously injured Makopa replaced by Leo Kurauzvione in the holding position.
The Zimbabwean champions, bubbling with confidence from Sunday’s 4-1 mauling of police side Black Mambas in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League at Rufaro, arrived here yesterday exactly 24 hours after an inter-continental flight that took them to Johannesburg from where they connected overnight to Dubai on an Emirates plane before setting off for Tunis in mid-morning and touching down at the Carthage International Airport at 2pm.
With their visas processed at the port of entry the delegation of 32 was then ferried to the coastal town of Al Marsa, 25 kms from the currently volatile capital and have been accommodated in a spacious deluxe hotel which is a five-minute drive from their training pitch.
Team manager Richard ¨Nyoka¨ Chihoro, in an interview soon after a late lunch, said Dynamos had no hospitality complaints against their hosts.
¨They have booked us in a good hotel and we are happy to have peace of mind ahead of the game.
“At this juncture I would like to assure our supporters back home that everything is well for us here and we are very much focused on the task awaiting us. We want to carry a good result for the second leg in Harare.¨ said Chihoro.
The eagerly anticipated clash, that some are equating to a final before the final, kicks off at 4pm (3pm Zimbabwean time) at the famous Rades Stadium that hosted the 2004 African Cup of Nations final won by the hosts Tunisia over fellow North Africans Morocco.
Dynamos have met Tunisian opposition several times before with victory going either way.