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throwback to their golden era when Dynamos, powered by an indomitable spirit, were the kings of the domestic football scene.
DeMbare’s Class of 2011 chose the penultimate game of the Castle Lager Premiership season, a grand stage event that offered FC Platinum the carrot of winning the championship on home soil, to make the biggest statement of their league title challenge.
Facing a win-or-bust challenge against an inspired opponent on a memorable date with destiny, this looked like Mission Impossible for a Dynamos team that had failed to win a league match away from Harare all season and, to show their impotence out of the capital, had also failed to score.
In contrast, FC Platinum had not lost at Fortress Mandava all season, had conceded only two goals at home, and they ran onto the pitch carrying the psychological boost that came with the knowledge a draw would effectively be enough for them to win their maiden league title on the final weekend.
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On the green grass of Mandava, where only CAPS United had managed to escape with a point, the stage was set for the final burial of the Glamour Boys’ championship dreams that appeared to have ended in Week 18, when they fell 10 points adrift of FC Platinum, only for the arrival of Pasuwa to inject oxygen into their stricken lungs.
Zvishavane had never hosted such an occasion, with the crowning of the Moneybags as kings of Zimbabwean football having painted this mining town into a valley of green-and-white colours, and the historians ready to add a new chapter to the history of the national game in this country.
After all, FC Platinum were on the verge of becoming the first team from outside Bulawayo and Harare, in post-independence Zimbabwe, to win the league championship and, all they needed was a victory against a team that had not won all year on their travels outside their comfort zone of the capital.
Exactly 45 years after St Paul’s Musami had won the league title in 1966, in the year that cartoon genius Walt Disney died at the age of 65, by making a mockery of the established giants of the domestic game then, FC Platinum stood on the threshold of an amazing success story.
Before the turn of the millennium, long before Dynamos dined with the kind of mediocrity that has seemingly become acceptable at the people’s team since they lost their way when the number denoting the century changed from one to two, what used to stand out about their character was their never-say-die attitude.
At times they were boring, at times they were rough, now and again they were bullish and in most of the cases they were simply arrogant, but what used to underline their greatness, the enduring image that remained after all the negatives had been washed away by the passage of time, was their resilience.
Push them into a corner, when you believed they were at their weakest, and – somehow – they would produce a response that would stun you.
For 45 minutes, in the first half on Sunday, Dynamos looked as ordinary as they have done all season away from the capital and there was very little, either in the body language of the players or the pattern of their play, to suggest that they were ready to seize the moment.
But FC Platinum, too, appeared overawed by the occasion and were no better than their opponents in a first half that quickly disappeared, with very little to suggest this was the occasion where everything would effectively be decided, and the goalless scoreline was a timely reminder that the scoreboard usually tells the true story.
In 2565 minutes, the equivalence of the 27-and-half league games that Dynamos had played up to this moment, the Glamour Boys had painstakingly built a campaign that had barely gathered momentum and which rarely provided hope for their fans from the very opening day when they fell to a shock defeat against Kiglon.
Now, in these final 45 minutes of this do-or-die game, they needed to do something special and, to their eternal credit, they seized the moment.
Dominant from the moment the game restarted, they played with the right spirit, opened a highway on the right channel of their attack where David Kautauripo was inspirational on a day where the cool heads of the veterans were crucial, and FC Platinum were on the ropes in their backyard.
For Pasuwa, what mattered was his players’ response.
“We struggled to adjust to the pitch conditions in the first half but after the break we became stronger and stronger and it’s the character of these boys, never to give up, which has really impressed me,” he said yesterday.
“When you look at Dynamos, it has a history of never giving up and you can see it in this team and our defence, you have to give them credit, has been excellent and in the three big games we have played, one after the other, against Hwange, Motor Action and FC Platinum, we haven’t conceded a goal.
“When you are organised at the back, and you stop the opposition from scoring, you have a chance because without scoring they can’t win and, if you use your opportunities, then you take all three points.
“The spirit in our team has been excellent and at no point on Sunday did the players ever doubt that they could win the game, even though FC Platinum had the history that they had not lost in the ground, and I believe we got our due rewards.”
Pasuwa knows that it would have been tougher without the fans who backed their cause and turned Mandava into their home ground.
“The supporters were excellent and I think it inspired the players, looking at all those people who had traveled, and knowing that they believed we could win the game,” said Pasuwa.
“The supporters made us feel at home and we want to thank them very much for the big part they played.
“Cuthbert Malajila, our captain on the day, really lifted the boys and played a true leader’s role, when we were attacking or when we were in defence, he made a big difference for us. But I have been telling the boys that they should enjoy the moment and forget about it and tomorrow (today), I will speak about the importance of winning against Kiglon because we have to remain focused.
“There is a danger that you can easily lose focus after winning some big battles but every game counts and what we did in Zvishavane was to ensure that we remain in the hunt and we should try and finish the job against Kiglon.”
Four years have passed since Dynamos last won the league championship and, after their sensational show at Mandava, you can forgive them if they tell you that they are already seeing the Promised Land.
Online Reporter