DeMbare ready to roll

the Champions League and domestic Premiership.
The Glamour Boys have been relegated into the shadows, of late, as FC Platinum hog the limelight after a sensational entrance into the Champions League, in which they massacred Swazi side Green Mamba 8-2 on aggregate.
The Zvishavane side also won the Bob ’88 Super Cup, a tournament in which DeMbare were the defending champions and lost in the semi-finals.
But Pasuwa believes their Charity Shield clash with Motor Action will give them a dry run of their preparedness for the 2012 season.
After a slow start to their pre-season preparations, Dynamos have over the last few weeks quietly upped their act and have been playing friendly matches against local rivals.
Last Sunday, DeMbare were at Sakubva for a date with newly promoted Buffaloes which ended 1-1.
But the real deal for Pasuwa starts in a fortnight when DeMbare begin their Champions League campaign with a cagey away assignment, which is likely to be against crack Mozambican outfit Liga Muculmana in Maputo.
Before they make that trip, DeMbare — the league and cup winners — face the team they beat in the Mbada Diamonds Cup final, Motor Action, in a NetOne Charity Shield clash at Rufaro on March 18.
Pasuwa said Dynamos’ success last season had heaped the pressure on the 2012 class to emulate that feat.
And after stepping up their pre-season act, the former Zimbabwe midfielder has warned his charges that they will be under scrutiny in every assignment.
“We have been having a problem with the number of off-season injuries and this meant that we could not have a regular squad in training every week and it is only when we were preparing to go to Buffaloes that I managed to get a full squad for the first time in a long time.
“We drew 1-1 with Buffaloes but the pitch at Sakubva is in a terrible state and that made play a bit difficult.
“We also struggled a bit with our cohesion in the first half and in our attack but I am happy with the way this team has improved and I can say we are ready for the season now.
“Of course there a still some areas that need attention, Takesure (Chinyama) is still to get fully fit and as you know we brought him as a direct replacement for Malajila. We will need to address Mutuma’s (Roderick) problem with positional discipline because he has often been straying off and that limits his chances of getting the goals and it has been the same story with Tineyi Chitora who is now adjusting to our system.
“Then we had all the injuries but now most of the guys are back except for players like Martin Vengesayi, Derrick Kabwe and Arthur (Kaseloke) who are still to regain fitness.
“We have also been working hard on our reaction and the transition from when we lose the ball and the time we should take to win it back . . . I have been worried that we have been a bit slow in that aspect. But, really, I think it is now shaping up,’’ Pasuwa said.
The Dynamos coach also revealed that he had been working on psyching his players and getting them to focus on the new tasks at hand, arguing that they had to put behind them the 2011 season in which they overhauled FC Platinum to win the championship in a tense title race that went to the wire.
“I have told these players that it was nice to win the league and cup double last year but that is now water under the bridge,” said Pasuwa.
“If last year they put in 100 percent this year they have to put in 110 percent because this season we will be the team to beat. Everyone will want to beat the champions and they have to understand what it means to put on the Dynamos jersey.”
Pasuwa reckoned that their Charity Shield clash with Motor Action would also present them with a tough challenge, especially in view of the Mighty Bulls’ bid to avenge for Dynamos’ dominance over them last year.
“The game against Motor Action will be a big challenge because Motor Action have a point to prove because we dominated them last year in the league and cup. But what happened last year is history and they have a new team altogether.
“Although I am happy with how we have prepared, that game will give us an indication of the character of this team and you always need to win to gain confidence.
“We will be going away to Mozambique first so it would be nice to travel for a Champions League assignment when you have won your previous game, it will boost us,’’ Pasuwa said.
The Dynamos coach also revealed that he would engage his DeMbare predecessor David Mandigora to get an insight on Liga Muculmana.
“I have been trying to get video footage on Liga Muculmana and I am sure Yogi will give me a lot of tips on them. In football you can’t know everything so I will seek Yogi’s help in that regard, he has recently been coaching in Mozambique’’.
Although Pasuwa is not one to heap too much praise on individual players, the Dynamos coach must be a satisfied man with manner in which his rearguard has been shaping up with young defender Partson “Yellow’’ Jaure settling in well in the heart of the defence.
Jaure, a member of the Dynamos juniors, had been loaned out to Northern Region Division One side La Liga from where has returned a more polished gem and widened Pasuwa’s selection options, which also includes Gift Bello and veterans Guthrie Zhokinyi and George Magariro.
Former Monomotapa left back Ocean Mushure also appears to have settled in well but it is the Zambian pair of Kabwe and Kaseloke who would have to shake off their long-term injuries and try and make an impact at the Harare giants.