dyton mupawaenda
Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS missed a day’s training in Botswana after one of the team’s officials failed to communicate with 17 players and six officials resulting in them missing a connecting flight from the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg a fortnight ago, Zimpapers Sport can reveal.
The Glamour Boys travelled on August 15 for their August 18 CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round first leg fixture against Zambia’s ZESCO United in two batches.
The first batch had those 17 players and six officials with the second group comprising three players who include; Eli Ilunga, Sadney Urikhob and Keith Madera as well as three officials.
The two pools were supposed to connect together from the OR Tambo International Airport to Gaborone later in the day.
But some officials in the second batch including David Chikomo, who is in charge of marketing reportedly failed to get in touch with the 21 advance members resulting in them getting stranded at the Johannesburg port.It had to take the intervention of Botswana team Township Rollers patron Tendani Sebata to address the situation.
“Sebata had to find nearby accommodation for the players to put up in the night,” said a source within Dynamos.
“The club had already decided that the 21 members would travel by road from South Africa to Gaborone before we managed to secure air tickets.”
As a result, coach Lloyd “Mablanyo” Chigowe couldn’t have time with his team to train on August 16. They only had a practice session a day before the match which Dynamos then won 1-0 courtesy of a Tanaka Shandirwa headed goal.
But the problems did not end in Botswana as the Glamour Boys faced even more challenges in the return leg in Ndola, Zambia.
“Some of our own members of the executive seemed to connive with the opponents to destroy us. I can tell you that some players had challenges as some of our executive members had to allocate themselves rooms first before the players,” added the source.
“When we pitched up at the match venue for training, ZESCO United bouncers and some people refused to leave and after moments of waiting we just decided to go on and we trained in their full glare,” he added.
“We needed to write a report but surprisingly, the report from our side (reportedly written by chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze) painted everything good as if there was nothing sinister about an opponent having full access to our tactics. We wondered whether we were fighting in the same corner or else we had opponents in our camp as well.”
With Nomore Chinyerere and Uri-Khob injured, Emmanuel Paga and Arthur Musiyiwa were called in as replacements but the executive couldn’t buy them air tickets. Paga started the match and put in a good shift as Dynamos successfully defended their marginal lead from the first leg before he was subbed off with nine minutes of regulation time still on the clock. Musiyiwa was an unused substitute.
“The two players endured the road trip to and from Ndola, Zambia and you must spare them a thought. Imagine, Paga did very well and even Musiyiwa was ready to come on if needed but in the end they had to travel by road,” said the source.
Dynamos executive chairman Moses Maunganidze was unavailable for comment. DeMbare will be back in Botswana for the first leg of the second preliminary against Orapa United on September 13 and they are still deliberating on their own home ground for the second leg fixture that will come a week later.
Online Reporter