DeMbare scale heights

won, when they powered their way to an 18th Premiership crown at Rufaro on Sunday.

Two years short of their 50th anniversary celebrations, the Glamour Boys timed their final sprint to perfection, in a spectacular smash-and-grab exercise, to win nine of their last 11 games to return to the winners’ podium after a three-year absence.
The Harare giants are now the ninth most successful team in the history of African football, when it comes to winning domestic league crowns, after they opened another chapter in their amazing success story by their triumph on Sunday.

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DeMbare turned around a campaign, which had seemingly gone off the rails just as it was about to enter the home stretch, with a resilience that drained life out of their main rivals and a punishing defence that gave away very little when it mattered most.
They did it the hard way, needing the penultimate game of the season to go top of the Premiership table for the first time this year, smashing FC Platinum’s unbeaten home record at Mandava and finally

turning the tide on bogey sides Motor Action and Kiglon.
Not even the punishing furnace conditions of the Colliery could dissolve their will, as their campaign gathered momentum, and the point picked against Hwange proved priceless in the final analysis as Dynamos squeezed FC Platinum out on goal difference.

The arrival of coach Callisto Pasuwa, at a time when a rough patch had squeezed hope out of the fans and cast a psychological spell on the players, and the return of Cuthbert Malajila’s experienced hand in attack, turned out to be just what the doctor had ordered.
DeMbare never lost a match that Malajila played, since his premature comeback from an adventure in Libya, and while the forward did not provide the glut of goals his team probably wanted, he certainly provided leadership and brought the best out of Roderick Mutuma.

And, when Malajila assumed the captaincy following George Magariro’s injury, his exceptional work rate, a key component of his game, seemed to rub on his teammates and there was a detectable change in the players’ body language in the final countdown.
But this was never a success story solely built on the brilliance of the forward line, even in the year that Mutuma’s 14 goals won him the Golden Boot, but one that owed so much to the discipline of a defence that proudly stood tall all season.

Goalkeeper Washington Arubi became the rock, on which his team’s championship challenge was built, by producing consistent high quality performances that, over the course of the season, probably dwarfed every other player on the domestic scene.
Guthrie Zhokinyi was a colossus, in the heart of the defence, while Murape Murape played with the right spirit and, at crucial moments, there were big contribution from the young turks – Archford Gutu and Denver Mukamba.

But, if ever a team built a league championship on the combination of the efforts of all the individuals in its set-up rather than the outstanding performance of one or two stars, then the DeMbare Class of 2011 is a perfect example.
A season that opened in a blaze of expectations as Lloyd Mutasa’s men turned on the style at Rufaro to dismantle MC Alger in a Champions League tie, might have failed to live to the heights scaled on

that opening day, but the Glamour Boys certainly did enough to deserve the party that erupted as they waved goodbye to dear old Rufaro on Sunday.
They will not return to their fortress, until next year, given that their Mbada Diamonds Cup final showdown against Motor Action is at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Dynamos are now joint ninth, among Africa’s most successful football teams when it comes to winning domestic league crowns, sharing the record with Sudanese giants Al-Merreikh and Tanzanian side Young Africans.

Egyptian powerhouse, Al-Ahly, lead the race with 36 league titles won in 55 seasons in their country while Edward Sadomba’s Al-Hilal are in second place in Africa with 26 league titles in Sudan.
Crack Tunisian club, Esperance, who won the African Champions League last week, are in third place with 24 league titles, the same as Cote d’Ivoire giants ASEC Mimosas who beat Dynamos 4-2 on aggregate, in the ’98 Champions League final, for their sole success story in the continent’s flagship inter-club tournament.
Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko are in fifth place, with 21 league titles, and share the spot with AC Djoliba of Mali and St George of Ethiopia. Kotoko’s bitter rivals, Hearts of Oak, are in eighth place, with 20 league titles in Ghana.

Then Dynamos comes in on number nine, sharing their slot with Young Africans and Al-Merreikh. Stade Malien of Mali are in 12th place, with 17 league titles, while three teams – Al Ittihad of Libya, USM de Casablanca of Morocco, Villa SC of Uganda and JS saint-Pierroise of Reunio, share 13th place with 16 league titles each.
Angolan side Petro Atletico are the second Southern African club in the top 20 and find themselves in 17th place, with 15 league titles, sharing the slot with Wallidan of Gambia and former African champions Hafia of Guinea.

In 20th place, with 14 league titles each, are Sporting Clube de Bissau of Guinea Bissau, Mighty Barrolle of Liberia, former African champions JS Kabylie of Algeria and Vital’ O of Burundi.
Africa’s Top 20 Clubs In Terms Of League titles

Position	CLUB	COUNTRY	TITLES
1	Al-Ahly	Egypt	36
2	Al-Hilal	Sudan	26
3	Esperance	Tunisia	24
3	ASEC	Cote d’Ivoire	24
5	Asante Kotoko	Ghana	21
5	AC	DjolibaMali	21
5	St George	Ethiopia	21
8	Hearts of Oak	Ghana	20
9	DYNAMOS	ZIMBABWE	18
9	Young Africans	Tanzania	18
9	Al-Merreikh	Sudan	18
12	Stade Malien	Mali	17
13	Al-Ittihad	Libya	16
13	USM Casablanca	Morocco	16
13	Villa SC	Uganda	16
13	JS Saint-Pierroise	Reunion	16
17	Petro Atletico	Angola	15
17	Wallidan	Gambia	15
17	Hafia	Guinea	15
20 20 20 20	SC de Bissau Mighty Barolle JS Kabylie Vital’O	Guinea Bissau Sierra Leone Algeria Burundi	14 14 14 14