We must win: Denver

confident DeMbare brace for the start of their 2011 Champions League ca-mpaign with a cagey home affair against Algerian outfit MC Alger at Rufaro on Sunday.
Mukamba, who joined the Hara-re giants from Kiglon at the start of this year, has been an instant hit at least as far as the Harare giants’ build-up to the upcoming season is concerned.
The lanky midfielder also had a largely decent debut in the senior national team colours when he was part of the home-based Warriors who represented the country at the African Nations Champion-ships in Sudan last month.
Mukamba is also a key member of the of the Young Warriors side that is on the verge of qualifying for the All-Africa Games scheduled for Mozambique in September.
But for all the promise that he has shown in the pre-season tournaments such as the Bob 87 Super Cup tie against CAPS United and the Hexagon Cup clash against Highlanders, Mukamba knows that the Champions League is the real deal.
Sunday’s game also provides Mukamba with an opportunity to prove that he is the genuine article as Dynamos begin another journey to try and secure what has of late become familiar appearance in the group stage of the Champions League.
The 19-year old rookie who is one of the several Dynamos players waiting to make their Champions League debut yesterday sounded upbeat and rallied the Glamour Boys to win the first leg match by a good margin against the Algerians.
“This is a must-win game for us and we have to beat them by a good margin so that it would be much easier when we go there for the return leg.
“This is my first time to hear about this team, though, and I must admit we don’t know anything about them. But I have a rough idea of the type of football played in North Africa because we had a chance to watch the Algerians play at the CHAN tournament in Sudan,” said Mukamba.
The young forward who was a revelation at Kiglon last season has struck a strong bond and a good understanding on and off the pitch with his close friend and Warriors teammate Archieford Gutu to drive the Dynamos midfield.
Mukamba, Gutu and promising striker Roderick Mutuma have re-ignited hope among the DeMbare faithful that this could be their season with this season following a string of fine performances in the last fe weeks.
The huge expectations of the often impatient Dynamos fans is also not lost on Mukamba.
“I am very much aware of the big expectations. Dynamos fans always want their team to win and we will try our best to do that for them.
“We have been practicing hard for this and we played well in our practice matches winning most of them. But this is a different stage altogether, which means it won’t be easy. We now have to adjust our game and move it a gear up,” Mukamba said.
Dynamos who had a poor run by their standards in last year’s Champions League, will be hoping to go beyond the mini-league phase of the competition.
The 1998 runners-up were also losing semi-finalists in 2008 but they lost their way in the group stage last year in which they finished bottom of a group that included eventual winners TP Mazembe, St Entente Setif of Algeria and Tunisia’s Esperance.
Dynamos have, however lost most of the seasoned players who took part in the previous campaigns and coach Lloyd Mutasa would now have to rely a bunch of rookies to lead this year’s campaign.
Mukamba admitted that their inexperience at this level of the game could be their biggest challenge.
“It’s always tough in the Champions League. It’s a big stage, which needs more maturity and requires that we remain 100 percent focused.
“Most of us are still young and have never played at this level before but I am grateful to the coaches who have been helping us a lot in terms of encouragement and cooling down our nerves.
“But I am confident that I will be able to play to my best. I am even looking ahead of this match because my dream is to reach the final and probably become the first Dynamos team to win the Champions League,” Mukamba said. MC Alger are expected in the country tomorrow.
The North Africans will be looking for a fresh start after appointing new coach Noureddine Zekri, who replaced Frenchman Alain Michel last Friday.
Michel was relieved of his duties after a disappointing season with the championship winning side, whose fortunes took a sudden twist and are now fighting to survive relegation in the Algerian League. MC Alger are currently 13th on the 16-team Algerian top-flight league, with the season past the half way stage.
MC Alger qualified from the preliminary round courtesy of a 3-0 aggregate win over Real Bangui of the Central African Republic.
But the new coach Zekri will be coming back to Harare to face Dynamos hoping to exorcise the ghost that cost him his job at Entente Sentif after falling to the Harare giants in last season’s mini-league game.
A Wonder Sithole goal gave Dynamos victory over Zekri’s Setif at Rufaro.
Zekri was later sacked from Setif due to poor results in the 2010 Champions League group stage, picking up just one point out of the first three group matches.
But it was that loss to DeMbare that was the final straw for Zekri, a former Algerian midfielder, who is also a UEFA A coaching Licence holder, a qualification he obtained in Italy.
Fixtures:
Saturday – Motor Action v Asec Mimosas (Rufaro)
Sunday – Dynamos v MC Alger (Rufaro).