Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
GENESIS Mangombe didn’t sell it as a fairy-tale return.
He called it painful, messy, and loaded with things he still won’t say out loud.
But, two weeks after agreeing terms with Dynamos, the young coach is back at the Glamour Boys.
Training has turned into a crowded audition with “hordes” of players filling the ground, all chasing a place in a squad that must compete locally and also carry the club’s name in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Mangombe is already trimming the group down and shaping what he believes will be strong enough when the 2026 season starts.
He has brought in Triangle’s Witness Shave while veteran defender Patson Jaure is also expected to sign.
Blessing Sarupinda, Tafadzwa Rusike, Anotidaishe Gwatidzo, Prosper Kafelapanjila, Allen Gahadzikwa and goalkeeper Nedrick Madeya are also in contention.
“I think we have a better squad and a healthy-looking squad, which I’m still trying to assemble and get the best out of,” he said.
“But I’m happy with the response from the boys, the way they are doing their business, in terms of trying to acquire fitness for the season.”
Dynamos want balance and Mangombe is building it in public.
He wants maturity but he also wants speed and he’s openly telling his group that there will be no passengers at a club that lives under pressure.
“We need a balanced squad, we need a lot of maturity and, at the same time, we also need youngsters for speed but now I am happy with the players,” he said.
“This team is a big club as I said earlier on. This club is not a small team, it is very big.”
The CAF Confederation Cup is already shaping the recruitment mood.
Mangombe believes that badge alone is pulling players in.
Then there is the talk around sponsorship, the whispers that money is coming back into the club, and that the Dynamos shirt is about to become valuable again.
“Given that we are going to play in the CAF Confederation Cup games, everyone wants to be associated with the team and also I think as you have heard from the grapevine that the sponsor has come, every player wants to play for something so they want to be associated with us,” he said.
Mangombe’s first Dynamos chapter had a trophy, and a sting.
He won the Chibuku Super Cup in 2023, beating Ngezi Platinum Stars in the final, but the league form didn’t match the club’s demands.
Dynamos cut him loose last year.
Now, he returns with the same name, the same pressure, and far less patience available from the terraces.
This time, Dynamos are adding fresh faces to give him tools he didn’t have at the end of his last run.
Moses Demera, goalkeeper Dennis Kigonya, Collin Mujuru and Mandlenkosi Mlilo have joined.
Mangombe is convinced the pieces are there to build a team that can actually last the season without collapsing when the heat rises.
