admin
real test of their pedigree to go further in the competition.
Pasuwa and his troops returned home on Tuesday following a horrible weekend in which they lost their preliminary round, second leg assignment against Lesotho Correctional Services in Maseru on Sunday and then missed their return flight the following day.
Dynamos had also encountered a mid-air scare on their to Maseru.
Although they went down 1-0 in Maseru, DeMbare had done enough to win 3-0 in the first leg at Rufaro, which sealed their place in the first round.
Dynamos were back in training yesterday with Pasuwa seeking to use the week they have before travelling to Tunisia to rectify the mistakes which he noted in their defeat to LCS.
The Dynamos coach conceded that they face a much tougher proposition in the Tunisian outfit that is not new to the Champions League game.
CAB, who were founded in 1928 and are based in a town called Bizerte were the first Tunisian side to win a continental competition after being crowned the African Cup Winners Cup champions in 1988.
The African Cup Winners Cup has since changed its name and format and is now known as the Confederation Cup.
CAB, who beat Ittihad of Libya 2-1 on aggregate are currently fourth on the Tunisian top-flight log standings.
Pasuwa also revealed that he had planned for the LCS match in Maseru with one eye on the encounter against CAB hence his decision to start with a defensive approach against the Lesotho Prison warders.
With the domestic game still on the off-season break, Pasuwa said he could only use such a game like the return leg against LCS to experiment with a different approach as his team had taken a comfortable lead from the first leg.
Dynamos were yesterday also keenly monitoring the injury to star midfielder Tawanda Muparati who broke a finger in Maseru and was set to have a plaster cast on the finger.
The Harare giants were also elbowed out of the NetOne Charity Shield in a voting system that sparked controversy after fellow giants Highlanders also failed to make the cut in the four-team tournament.
But for Pasuwa, it is the need to maximise on the few days before they embark on their long trip to Tunis, which he is now concerned about with the coach expressing worry with the fact that his largely youthful side was still struggling to concentrate for 90 minutes.
“There is no time to relax. We need to quickly work on our shortcomings inside one week.
“We have a limited squad for the Champions League as we only have 20 players who are eligible to play and we took 18 of them to Maseru. Of the two who remained one is young goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva and the other is defender Sydney Linyama. Now we also have to check on Tawanda Muparati’s condition because he broke his finger and should be having a plaster cast on it today . . . but I hope it will not be something serious to affect his training and availability,’’ Pasuwa said.
Pasuwa explained the rationale behind taking a defensive approach against LCS when many thought he would go on the offensive and try to add to the 3-0 margin they had achieved at Rufaro on the back of a goal each by Ugandan Boban Ziruntusa, Partson Jaure and Muparati.
“We tried to use the game against LCS to test our defensive capabilities and I thought we did well at least for about 75 minutes but after that we lost our shape when we tried to go hunt for goals.
“We are still trying to improve the way we defend from set pieces and dealing with the high balls and those (high balls) are a trademark of the North African game.
“In fact against Esperance when we lost last year (6-0) our biggest challenge was defending the high balls and this is something that we have been working hard on.
“I think we are slowly getting there but there is really work to be done and I have noticed that these youngsters we have are not yet fully fit and tend to tire in the last 20 minutes yet we need to concentrate 100 percent until the final whistle.
“We also need to learn to keep possession as much as we can and we also need to learn to quickly adjust to playing to different surfaces because some can be heavy and others light,’’ Pasuwa said.
The coach also blamed lack of concentration for the late goal they conceded in Maseru which arrived six minutes from time.
Pasuwa, who found himself facing a striking crisis following the departure of Simba Sithole and Roderick Mutuma for SuperSport United and Bloemfontein Celtic respectively, also spoke about his new look attack.
“Offensively, we also need to improve so that we can vary our options and be able to keep one man upfront but the rest of the team should be quick enough to join him when we go forward.
“But we still have a challenge of match fitness especially for players like Fransisco (Zekumbawira) since he joined us late but I think he will come good soon’’.
Although Dynamos do not have very fond memories of their last two visits to North African countries — Algeria and Tunisia — Pasuwa implored on his charges not to fear their opponents’ reputation.
“It is true that North African clubs are strong in the continental competitions but we cannot afford to fear them. Our attitude has to be positive. We cannot afford to drop our heads even if we find ourselves a goal down, we should be able to rise and fight on.
“Dynamos have won before in Tunisia and it can be done again,’’ Pasuwa said.
The coach is, however, not too amused with the attitude of newboy Linyama, who arrived from Premiership rivals Chicken Inn but had reportedly been often skipping training.
“We had plans for Sydney, who has the height we need in defence and we designed a special training programme for him when we left for Lesotho but he just disappeared and I don’t know what is wrong with him.
“Just like all the new players we brought in, the main aim was for them to strengthen our Champions League squad but he has not been training consistently and it is making it difficult for us to use him.
“He is a good player but needs to quickly understand that Dynamos is a pressure club and you need to be fit and mentally ready but you cannot achieve that when you are always going AWOL,’’ Pasuwa said.
Online Reporter