Online Reporter
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
THEY have dubbed it Harare Derby Lite!
It’s all about paying respect to the Harare Derby – Dynamos versus CAPS United.
It’s also all about acknowledging that this contest between Dynamos and Scottland has also transformed itself into a huge showdown.
Last year, one of their battles produced the Game of the Season.
The five-goal thriller was also decided by one of the goals of the season.
Denver Mukamba volleyed the winner into the roof of the net as DeMbare sealed a 3-2 victory amid an explosion of emotions in the stands.
Not for the first time, Denver was once again being feted as the King.
He won’t be there, this time around, to write another chapter in his fascinating football story.
History, though, will remember him kindly – both at Dynamos and at Scottland, where he was one of the stars of their campaign to reach the Premiership.
Last year’s classic came in the reverse fixture.
It was played on August 30, last year.
Somehow, the football gods have decided that the two sides’ reverse fixture this year also has to be played in August.
Unlike last year’s battle, which featured one opponent chasing the league title and another opponent battling for survival, today’s battle pits two teams chasing the same dream.
DeMbare, unbeaten in the league ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DAYS, arrive at Rufaro today with the chance to blow the championship race wide open.
A win will take them within just three points of second-placed Hardrock and within five points of the champions.
Since falling 1-2 to a last-gasp penalty to CAPS United in the Harare Derby on May 10 at Rufaro, the Glamour Boys have developed an allergy to defeats in the league.
They have won seven, and drawn seven, of the 14 league matches they have played since that painful defeat to the Green Machine.
The arrival of coach Aristica Cioba has given Dynamos a spring in their step.
There is a hunger to their attacks, there is a method to their play and there is a structure to their approach.
Even those who resisted his recruitment, preferring to live in the comfort, instead of ambition, which Genesis Mangombe provided, have seen their resistance melt away.
They have now joined the choirmasters who are bombarding the Romanian coach with praises for the impact he has made during his short time at the Glamour Boys.
Of course, they also know that this is the ultimate test for the coach.
Scottland know that a victory today will be a big moment in their quest to make history as the first side to win and defend the league championship in the first two seasons they have been in the top-flight league.
Last year, they matched Black Rhinos by becoming the first team, since Chipembere in 1984, to win the title in their first season in the domestic Premiership.
Now, this year, they could become the first team, in the 64-year history of the country’s top-flight league, to win the title, in their first season in the league, and then defend it the following year.
Club president Scott Sakupwanya has been clear that he came into the game to make the kind of impression which will last for generations.
Becoming the first team to win the league, in their first season, and defend the crown the following year, in the 64-year-history of the league, is the kind of story that lasts for generations.
Coach Norman Mapeza, in his first year at Scottland, has navigated a storm, steered his team to calmer waters and then transformed them into a force which, for nine games, beat every opponent they faced.
They also didn’t concede a goal during that run.
That impressive run ended with that 0-1 defeat at the hands of Highlanders at Barbourfields.
Another defeat to a member of the Big Three today will not be mortal.
But, with just two points between them and Hardrock, who lost their ZIFA Appeals petition to challenge the Disciplinary Committee’s decision for them to replay their game against Dynamos, it will leave them vulnerable.
There are so many sub-plots, including the possible reunion of Emmanuel Jalai and his Glamour Boys today.
But, the real battle, and the defining moments, could come in midfield where Moses Shidolo is likely to go head-to-head with the impressive Godknows Dzakpasu, also now known as Dzakupasa, among the DeMbare fans.
Shidolo, the Namibian star, could probably win the Soccer Star of the Year if the vote was done today.
Dzakpasu, the Ghanaian star, took DeMbare fans down memory lane to a time when Lloyd Mutasa ran the show in their midield, with a sublime performance in the 4-1 thrashing of TelOne.
It’s a midweek game which, naturally, would mean that there would be a poor crowd at Rufaro.
This one is different.
