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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
DEFENDING Premier Soccer League champions Dynamos gave Highlanders a reality check on Sunday, beating them 2-0 in the Bob90 Super Cup final in Harare.The defeat should be a wake-up call for the Bulawayo soccer giants who are on “Operation Restore Glory” in the 2014 season having been busy on the market strengthening their squad for the coming season.
DeMbare continued their dominance over Bosso and questions will be asked as to Highlanders players’ body language before and during the match.
The display by Bosso was far from convincing and even coach Kelvin Kaindu admitted that his charges were not confident in his post-match interview.
“I think we did not play according to the plan.
“. . . we lost some bit of concentration and confidence in ourselves,” Kaindu said.
It’s back to the drawing board for the Zambian expatriate and his boys as Highlanders now find themselves psychologically in a hole as they have been left asking themselves where they went wrong.
Kaindu threw into the fray four of his pre-season signings Kudakwashe Mahachi, Valentine Ndaba, Charles Sibanda and Felix Chindungwe.
They all made minimal contribution as their presence on the field was hardly felt with Chindungwe making a terrible mistake in the box threading a perfect pass to Masimba Mambare who beat an exposed Munyaradzi Diya, the Highlanders goalkeeper.
There was nothing that Diya could have done later on to deny a dipping shot by Ronald Chitiyo who stole the show in the midfield, making Dynamos kick.
Credit should be given to Dynamos coach Callisto Pasuwa who tactically planned for the match with his players winning most duels while Highlanders preferred to do zonal marking which allowed DeMbare to have a go at them.
One of the lessons that Kaindu probably learnt is that the partnership of Chindungwe and ageing skipper Innocent Mapuranga will not work. Dumisani “Fazo” Ndlovu is probably the best bet to partner Chindungwe at central defence.
Dynamos attacked through the centre where anchorman Mthulisi Maphosa failed to protect his defence as he could not keep up with Chitiyo and Mambare’s fast pace.
What became clear is that DeMbare knew that Bosso were strong on the wings hence their penetration through the centre, past Maphosa who was unsuccessful in thwarting Dynamos’ raids.
On the other hand Walter Mukanga and Stephen Alimenda, playing as twin-anchorman did a tremendous job in shutting out Mahachi and playmaker Peter “Rio” Moyo as well as providing cover for their central defence of Patson Jaure and Sydney Linyama.
Because of the protection their defence enjoyed, it became easy for leftback Ocean Mushure to launch forays from the back.
Sunday’s performance showed that Highlanders need a proper anchorman. Having lost out on Chicken Inn’s Danny “Deco” Phiri, Kaindu has to juggle around his team and maybe use the likes of Simon Munawa, Hillary Madzivanyika or Douglas Sibanda who have proved to be real markers. What Highlanders need is a hard man.
Erick Mudzingwa who is played at rightback can also be a better anchorman and expectations are high that Kaindu will work on the shortcomings that were seen at Rufaro on Sunday.
Maphosa should not entirely take the blame for exposing his central defence as his midfield compatriots Mahachi, Ndaba and Rio Moyo failed to stamp their authority and were found ball-watching most of the time as they could not mark their opponents.
“We were compact in the midfield and in terms of aggression we were on top of them. Remember we have been playing in the Champions League and in terms of conditioning we are above Highlanders,” said Pasuwa.
The Bosso quartet of Maphosa, Mahachi, Moyo and Ndaba failed to supply their striking duo of Milton Ncube and Charles Sibanda with clear scoring passes, leaving them to drop into the midfield in search of balls.
With no clear cut or even half-scoring opportunities, it will be unfair to blame Ncube and Charles for failing to test Dynamos’ goalkeeper George Chigova.
The league is starting in two weeks time, so Highlanders fans hope the side still have one weekend to work out their combinations.
Online Reporter