dyton mupawaenda
Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter
HARARE Giants Dynamos are looking beyond just playing the final of the Chibuku Super Cup against Ngezi Platinum Stars as they anticipate a return to continental football next season.
The Glamour Boys outsmarted eternal rivals CAPS United 2-0 in the second semi-final at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, to book a date with the platinum miners at their Baobab fortress on December 3.
But whatever the outcome of that match, Dynamos will return to CAF inter-club football next season, after enduring an almost 10-year absence.
The African dance is guaranteed because the Glamour Boys and Ngezi Platinum Stars are the only two teams left in the race for both the league and the premier knock-out tournament, which come with the tickets to Africa.
Dynamos trail Ngezi Platinum by eight points going into the last five games of the campaign. But the Glamour Boys have a game in hand, a rescheduled fixture against Manica Diamonds at Gibbo tomorrow.
In the event something dramatic happens in their remaining six games and they win the league, CAF Champions League football will become a reality again, for the first time since 2014.
Even if they lose both the league race and the Chibuku Super Cup final to Ngezi Platinum, DeMbare will still be eligible to represent Zimbabwe in the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup.
“Since we are playing (Chibuku final) at Baobab, it’s not going to be an easy game. It’s going to be a tricky one. We beat them here at the National Sports Stadium the last time we played, so they obviously want revenge,” said Dynamos coach Genesis Mangombe.
“If we can go for both trophies, it will be a bonus but we take every game as it comes. We are facing Manica Diamonds on Wednesday (tomorrow) and we have already started training for that game.
“So we focus on that game for now and if we win that then we will see how it goes until the end of the season.”
Mangombe is also gearing himself up for CAF inter-club football next season.
“We will try and see how we are going to deal with the opponents at that level because it’s a different platform altogether.
“So we need these guys to know that when you are playing in the African safari we need aggression, we need to change the system,” said Mangombe.
Dynamos vice-chairman Vincent Chawonza said the Glamour Boys will embrace the opportunity to play in Africa with both hands.
The last time that DeMbare were supposed to play Champions League at the end of their four-peat under Callisto Pasuwa, they withdrew from the competition citing financial challenges in 2015.
But this time around they have sound financial backing from Sakunda Holdings, which they hope would extend beyond the domestic league sponsorship. Chawonza is excited by the prospects of playing in Africa again and have put in motion preparations for the gig.
“This is now a foregone conclusion; one way or the other we will play in Africa next season. It’s all guaranteed, so we have to start preparing for African football now.
“In fact, we have already started doing that. I told the boys yesterday that they should make sure their travelling documents are in place.
“We would also need to bolster the squad and the time to identify our targets is now. That said, we believe we have a very good squad and I am sure if we are to make additions it will be one or two players coming in.
“In terms of compliance with the CAF regulations for inter-club football participation, I think we are also up there. We have a women’s team that plays in a competitive league, we have a juniors’ development team that has been curtain-raising some of our games, we have a staffed office led by a chief executive officer and so on,” said Chawonza.
They will also hope that either the National Sports Stadium or Rufaro, which are currently banned by CAF, would have been renovated to meet the minimum standards.
Chawonza is also bullish ahead of the championship homestretch, as he believes Dynamos could still snatch the double from under Ngezi Platinum Stars’ nose. “I believe everything is possible,” he said.
“There are still five games to play before the end of the season and our hope is to win consistently and hope our opponents drop points. But the reality is we don’t have control of how they play, so we focus more on what we can control, that is winning our own games.
“Our boys are highly motivated and they know they have their destiny in their own hands. We also believe we have control of our destiny in the cup final.
“We can still do it; it doesn’t matter the final will be at Baobab. Remember this year we beat Highlanders in the league at their Barbourfields Stadium and we also went to Mandava and beat FC Platinum in the Chibuku Super Cup quarter-finals.
“So we take it one game at a time. On Wednesday (tomorrow) we are going to play Manica Diamonds at Gibbo and we hope for a positive result so that we keep pressure on the top team in the league race,” said Chawonza.
Online Reporter