Innocent Kurira
Zimpapers Sports Hub
Highlanders are preparing for a party at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday, but Dynamos have every intention of being the uninvited guests who ruin the celebrations.
The Battle of Zimbabwe comes at the centre of Highlanders’ centenary celebrations, with Bosso hoping to cap a landmark year with victory over their biggest rivals in front of what is expected to be a packed Barbourfields.
For Highlanders, everything points towards a celebration.
For Dynamos, it is an opportunity to turn the party into a painful afternoon for their hosts.
And that is what makes this latest instalment of the country’s biggest football rivalry particularly intriguing.
There may be no league points at stake, but there is certainly something to play for.
Highlanders team manager Zenzo Moyo made that clear in the build-up to Sunday’s encounter.
“There is no friendly match between Dynamos and Highlanders,” he said. “We are preparing just like any other game.
Beating Dynamos is sweet, especially in front of our home fans. We want to win.”
For Benjani Mwaruwari, the occasion also brings him full circle.
His first game in charge of Highlanders was against Dynamos in the Jairos Jiri Charity Cup in February, and it ended with a 1-0 Bosso victory.
Since then, however, the two giants have twice met in the league without either side managing to claim bragging rights.
Their first league encounter ended 2-2, while the return fixture produced a 1-1 draw.
Benjani, therefore, remains unbeaten against DeMbare, but Sunday offers him another chance to add a second victory over his old rivals to that record.
This time, though, the stakes are less about league positioning and more about pride, history and the occasion.
Highlanders’ centenary celebrations have already provided a backdrop to a year in which the club has sought to reconnect its rich past with its future.
Now the club wants its oldest rivalry to provide the closing act.
The match also comes as part of the inaugural Kuzana Sport and Creative Economy Expo, giving the fixture an added commercial and cultural dimension as football takes centre stage at the end of the exhibition.
But for the players and supporters, the calculations will be much simpler.
Win the Battle of Zimbabwe.
For Highlanders, that would turn the centenary occasion into an even bigger celebration.
For Dynamos, spoiling that celebration would be just as satisfying.
And with Benjani having already tasted victory over DeMbare in his first match in charge, Bosso will hope history can repeat itself when the party begins at Barbourfields.
