Dynamos, CAPS: The games they can’t lose

to this game, they bundled their players into camp yesterday.
DeMbare, who beat Buffaloes during the mid-week, will be battling hard for a win are battling to repair the shattered bond of trust with their fans still shocked by the 0-6 drubbing in Tunisia last week.
Tomorrow’s clash against Hwange comes just when Dynamos are still trying to get their act together following that heavy defeat in Tunisia.  
Makepekepe have not won a match in four starts and have only managed two draws against Shabanie Mine and Harare City.
Their latest defeat to Gunners has heaped more pressure on the team and particularly on manager Sean Connor and his technical side.
Connor could argue that the Green Machine have not been playing badly, but the question many fans are asking is why the results have not been coming.
The strikeforce has not been firing but Connor wants an improved all-round performance from his players.
“Every time we play the pressure is on us to go out and win the game but we have to be as effective as we were on Sunday,” he said.
“Everything we do, we do as a team. We work as a team, we lose as a team and we learn to develop as a team. We don’t want to look at individual performances. No!
“We work as a team to create a team mentality, a winning mentality. We do that by analysing mistakes and why we made those mistakes and try to rectify.”
Evans Gwekwerere is expected to be in the starting line-up after making the first team last week and with Clive Kawinga injured, the former DeMbare man would be expected to play the leading role up-front.
CAPS could not have easily forgotten the 3-0 drubbing they suffered at the hand of the same opponents last season.
Monomotapa coach Taurai Mangwiro said they are prepared for the challenge after dropping five points in their last two games against Black Mambas and Gunners.
“We are quite aware that in CAPS United we are facing a wounded lion. They are one of the big teams but results have not been going their way.
“I think this game comes at a bad time because we would have preferred it when they were winning games.
“But I am happy with my team because we have been scoring goals in four of the five matches that we played.
“What is worrisome though is that in all those matches we only had one clean sheet.  So we want to make sure that we do not give aware goals easily while we keep scoring,” said Mangwiro.
Tomorrow, DeMbare, who collected a single point from their bogey side last season, have also met Hwange twice this year in different competitions and lost in both matches.
But goalkeeper Washington Arubi, who captained the team in Mutare, yesterday said the Glamour Boys remained focused.
“It’s not going to be an easy game because every time we play, the opposing team always put 120 percent just to get the satisfaction of beating Dynamos.
“Things have not been well lately after the defeat in Tunisia but I believe that win over Buffaloes in Mutare went a long way to addressing this.
“Some of the players had lost confidence but the coaches have kept telling us to keep focused. So we are just hoping for the best,” said Arubi.
DeMbare beat Buffaloes 2-0 at Sakubva.
Coach Callisto Pasuwa is expected to make minimal changes, with wingbacks Ocean Mushure and David Kutyauripo out because of injuries.
But it appears Hwange have always conspired to make life difficult for the Harare giants home and away in recent times
Hwange coach Nation Dube yesterday said the visitors, who have been camped in Harare after playing Blue Rangers during mid-week, were not losing sleep over a meeting with DeMbare.
“We are preparing for a game of football and not war. Usually we don’t look at what happened in the past because this is a totally new game.
“So we treat Dynamos like any other opponent, with no special emphasis.”
Hwange are coming from a 2-2 draw against lowly Blue Rangers during the midweek.
Meanwhile Michael Chideme reports that Harare City Council sole supplier of concrete water and sewer reticulation pipes — Hume Pipes — has donated US$3 120 towards the running costs of Harare City Football Club.
The donation follows a plea by the city to all its suppliers and business partners to plough back into the community.
There was also a deliberate request for the funding of the city’s football team that joined the top-flight league this season.
Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda, an ardent sportsman, announced the gesture by Hume Pipe chairman, Wilson Tatenda Manase, at a recent full council meeting.
The donation was well received by councilors who subsequently made a resolution to acknowledge the donation.
Manase, a lawyer, is a prominent sports personality and a board member of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.
Fixtures
Today
Monomotapa v CAPS United (Rufaro Stadium), F.C Platinum v Motor Action (Mandava), Black Mambas v Highlanders (Morris Depot),  Quelaton v Gunners (Luveve)
Tomorrow
Dynamos v Hwange (Rufaro), Buffaloes v Shabanie Mine (Sakubva), Hardbody v Chicken Inn (Ascot), Blue Rangers v Harare City (Gwanzura).