FINAL BEFORE FINAL!

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

DYNAMOS assistant coach Lloyd “Mablanyo” Chigowe says the upcoming Chibuku Super Cup semi-final duel with traditional rivals CAPS United at the National Sports Stadium this Sunday will be treated as a “final,” as the Glamour Boys go all out to quench their thirst for silverware.

Mablanyo believes all the remaining games of the season will be treated as cup finals as DeMbare seek to finish with at least one silverware in their 60th anniversary season.

This will be the third time they will be facing Makepekepe this year, having played twice in the league marathon and winning both contests at the National Sports Stadium.

And now DeMbare want to claim a hat-trick of victories over their sworn football rivals. However, this Derby comes at a time when Makepekepe have recovered from their mid-season slump in form, and it promises a closely fought encounter.

Chigowe, who was in charge of DeMbare when they beat FC Platinum in the quarter-finals of this competition earlier this month, said the Glamour Boys have put in the hard yards during the week as they are expecting tough competition from the Green Machine.

“We always respect our opponents and especially in a Derby like this. CAPS United will be playing for their pride, and their lives, because I know that losing three times on the trot to Dynamos will be a disaster.

“Unfortunately for them, Dynamos wants it as well. So, I think it’s going to be a humdinger of a match,” said Chigowe.

He added: “We are cognisant of the fact that CAPS United are hungry, so are we. Naturally, it’s going to be a very tough game, but we will give it our all to make sure that the blue badge prevails.

“I think you have seen how we have gone about our business. So far, the team has been focused and obviously we expect that they cap it up with a trophy, either in the league or in the Chibuku Super Cup. We are very much cognisant of what is at stake.

“Obviously the performances have been good, but we still need to be consistent. For us, we are saying it’s eight games to go and in those eight games all of them are cup finals, including the big match on Sunday.”

Dynamos are yet to win the Chibuku Super Cup final, having reached the final once, in 2015. They last won major silverware back in 2014 when they achieved a remarkable four-peat with Callisto Pasuwa.

Their hopes of landing the league title this year have diminished after they found themselves trailing log leaders Ngezi Platinum Stars by eight points, albeit with a game in hand, going into the last five matches of the season.

But the Chibuku Super Cup presents better opportunities for landing silverware, between the two competitions, and Chigowe is continuously praying that the jinx be broken this year.

“That will be superb, it will be a milestone, it will be a breath of fresh air because it’s been 10 years since we won the league championship. Obviously, silverware is what Dynamos needs at the moment. We are the biggest team in the country,” said Chigowe.

Dynamos welcome star midfielder Donald Mudadi, who sat out last weeks’ sensational 1-0 win away at ZPC Kariba due to suspension. But left-back Elvis Moyo has to pass a fitness test after recovering from an injury that ruled him out of the last two assignments.

But Chigowe is unmoved by the prospect of any of their players missing action because of the depth of their squad.

“The group of guys we have got here; there is significant talent and we are also reminding them that talent alone without results counts for nothing. So they have got to stand up and be counted,” he said.

“Elvis Moyo will be assessed by the medical team. He joined the other guys in training this week but we are a team that has got depth. Like you have seen (Shadreck) Nyahwa hasn’t been playing regularly but we threw him in and he has been delivering.

“The other time we threw in (Tendai) Magwaza against CAPS United and he played brilliantly and Brandon Mpofu has held fort in the last two games.

So I think the depth is there for us to be able to see out our matches through,” said Chigowe.