IS THIS THE END?

Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter—
DYNAMOS froze on the big stage, on an afternoon that cried out for quality, and turned on one of their worst home performances in the Champions League on Saturday as they handed the initiative to a lively and well-organised AS Vita who played as if they were the hosts.The Glamour Boys were, at best, ordinary and, at worst, awful as they struggled all afternoon and they were so lifeless that their fans took comfort from the fact that they didn’t lose this game and, crucially, didn’t concede a killer away goal that would have effectively ended this tie as a contest.

On a day that the Zimbabwe champions would want to forget in a hurry, they never got going, their midfield remained in the dressing room and never showed up for the battle while their one-man forward-line, fronted by Washington Pakamisa, wasn’t a threat all afternoon as it suffered from a crippled supply line.

The key players didn’t rise to the occasion and skipper Tawanda Muparati was barely recognisable as the player who was crowned the best on the domestic scene last year, giving Leslie Gwindi more ammunition in his argument that his forward, Silas Songani, should have been named Soccer Star of the Year instead.

Muparati has lost his touch, since being crowned the king, and his worst critics suggest that he is being weighed down by the borrowed giant robes that the country’s football writers dressed him with when they named him Soccer Star of the Year last season.

His supporters say that he is paying a huge price for the energy that he put into his team’s campaign last season, playing just about every game, and the fact that he didn’t have an off-season, with the CHAN tournament keeping him in camp in December and January, has had an impact on his game.

But, if that is true, why then is Partson Jaure still playing at a very high level, especially given that he played every minute of the Warriors’ CHAN campaign and carried the extra burden of leading the team as the captain?

Muparati was anonymous on Saturday and looked uncomfortable in a role wide down the left but even when he came in-field, his touch kept deserting him and he could not build on the flashes of brilliance that he produced to have an impact on the game.

But he wasn’t the only one who struggled on a very poor afternoon for the Glamour Boys.
His problem is that when he sneezes the whole team tends to catch a cold and, with their leader struggling all afternoon, DeMbare never moved into the second gear and didn’t deserve anything from a performance that was poor by their standards.

Masimba Mambare, their big-name signing, also struggled to make an impact, doing very little on the flank in attack and not doing enough to help his defence, and that the AS Vita leftback dribbled him more times than he beat him put his show into context.

Dynamos captain Murape Murape insists the Harare giants are still in with a chance in this year’s Champions League competition despite spurning a big opportunity at home when they were held by AS Vita.

The reigning Zimbabwe champions were left facing an early exit from the competition again this year after they were forced to a goalless draw by the Congolese side in the first leg of the first round tie at the National Sports Stadium.

Murape yesterday acknowledged the result left them in precarious situation as they now need to move mountains to come back home with a positive result from the return leg in the DRC this weekend.

Dynamos have failed to qualify for the mini-league stage since 2010.
“I know many people were not happy with the result and even some of our supporters turned their backs on the players when they wanted to acknowledge them at the end of the game,” said Murape.

“But you can only rule us out in your own judgment at this point.
“We are all disappointed and dejected but we will not keep our heads down because we believe it’s not over yet. The game is still on but we would need to work on our confidence and self belief as we go to the DRC. It has to be in us that we can do it.

“Maybe we need to draw inspiration from the fighting spirit of the Dynamos of old.
“History shows that Dynamos is a team of fighters.
“Those who played before us have been in such difficult situations and they would come out with the desired result.

“Of course, our away record for the past four or so years is not so good but sometimes you work harder when pushed into the corner.
“It was a setback but the good thing is that we are all eager to rise and to correct our mistakes.”
DeMbare will need at least a scoring draw in the second leg if they hope to progress to the second round of the tournament.

But they will always look back at their mistakes after failing the home supporters with their uninspiring show.
On a day when their likely second round opponents Kaizer Chiefs were winning 4-0 against Liga Muculmana of Mozambique, many of the club’s supporters were dejected as the draw was a big setback which left their team with one leg out of the tournament.

AS Vita, who progressed to this round following a fighting 4-3 win over Nigerian giants Kano Pillars, knew exactly what they wanted when coming to Harare and should have left with great deal of satisfaction.

“Probably we gave these guys the respect they didn’t deserve and you could see they were comfortable with the ball, something that we should not have allowed them.

“Our plan was to get some goals at home but things did not work out. Probably we could not rise to the right level but we will do our home work and try to correct our mistakes before the second leg.
“That game will be a do or die for us,” said Murape.

Dynamos beat Mochudi Centre Chiefs of Botswana 4-1 in the preliminary round.
DeMbare coach Callisto Pasuwa retained the bulk of the players from the team that played the preliminary round with Ocean Mushure coming in to replace Augustine Mbara although the former never justified his inclusion.

Pakamisa started as a lone striker again with Simba Sithole joining him in the second half but even his arrival failed to lift the team.
They have won in the DRC before and that opens just a small window of hope and the fact that any goal they might score, will count double, will keep their fans hoping that this hasn’t turned into Mission Impossible yet.

But Dynamos will need to do far more than what they did on Saturday and, for once in foreign territory, turn on the style.