DeMbare in Cup defence

 

tomorrow, barely 10 days after losing to the same side in a league match.

The tournament’s defending champions Motor Action and Monomotapa will warm up the event in a midday battle expected to kickoff at 12:30pm.
The Glamour Boys captain Murape Murape yesterday said Dynamos were looking to correct their mistakes following tough lessons in the 2-3 defeat at Buffaloes, which became their first league loss in 20 league games, stretching from last season.

Murape yesterday declared that DeMbare were aiming for the silverware and the big prize of US$120 000 that has been set aside for the winners.
“Dynamos is a big brand and obviously all the teams would want to win against us,” said Murape.

“The last time we played against them (Bufaloes), we allowed them to score many goals and that was a big mistake on our part which should not be repeated especially when playing away.

“I believe it was a wake-up call for us and this time I think we are more prepared for them since both teams will be playing on neutral venue. 
“We are looking forward to winning the BancABC Sup8r Cup. We should demonstrate that we are a big team by winning trophies. So we want to go further than this quarter-final stage.

“Our supporters should come in numbers to back the team because their support will count for much at the end of the day,” said Murape.
But DeMbare’s injury woes are far from over as they will go into battle without their defender Jaure who missed the last two games with a shin problem.

Jaure last featured in the 2-0 win over Black Rhinos last month and has not been fit since returning from national team duty two weeks ago.
A ray of hope had filtered through their casualty ward this week giving a sense of hope that Jaure and big forward Zekumbawira could be available for the team’s opening match in this year’s edition of the BancABC Sup8r Cup.

The pair resumed training with the rest of the players this week and there had been hopes that coach Callisto Pasuwa will have his players back for selection.
However, team manager, Richard Chihoro, yesterday said the technical team will be restricted to the same team that played last Sunday’s league game against How Mine.

The DeMbare camp has been struggling with injuries of late and sadly they will again not be able to field their top goal scorer Washington Pakamisa who joined long-term injury casualties like Byron Madzokere and goalkeeper Artwell Mukandi on the sidelines.

Pakamisa pulled a muscle at Buffaloes last week.
Chihoro said the players have been advised by the club’s doctors, who have been closely monitoring them, to get more time to rest.
The team manager was upbeat about the team’s chances.

“Cup games are 50-50 affairs. It’s different from playing a league game because one team has to walk away as winners,” said Chihoro.
“Buffaloes proved that they can be tricky customers so we will need to be strong in all departments.

“As usual we are going to play an attacking game and this time it’s good we are playing on a neutral venue which has a very good turf compared to the one we played in Mutare.”

Dynamos will go into the match on the back of a morale-boosting 3-0 thrashing of How Mine in their last game with double scorer Patrick Khumbula expected to spearhead the attack again.

Khumbula, who has just shaken off injury, is likely to be backed by Clive Kawinga who was targeted for criticism by DeMbare fans for being too selfish and chasing glory on a personal level, at the expense of the team.

Former Hwange man Allan Tavarwisa is slowly getting into the groove and could turn out to be a key player for the team in the second half of the season.
But questions about his future, just like that of defender Morris Kadzola, remain as Dynamos have failed to pay even a cent for their services since they joined the team.

Promises from the club’s leadership that they would settle the fees for the two players have been broken and Harare City have come in and offered to get the two players when the transfer window opens next week.

Buffaloes appear unfazed by the prospect of a backlash from DeMbare.

Watungwa Watungwa coach, Timothy Masachi, yesterday was in high spirits despite his side coming from a disappointing 4-2 defeat at lowly Tripple B last week.
Masachi said the army side was looking forward to the match as they hope to cause the biggest upset by eliminating the top seeds at this stage.

“We are all looking forward to the match. I am glad we have no injuries to worry about and we are just taking it easy since it is Dynamos who are under the pressure to hit back at us.

“We scored points against them last week and obviously they feel they should revenge.
“But we are prepared for this game and if we get another chance we would want to beat them again.

“We are just looking for that opportunity,” said Masachi.