‘Luck will determine Bosso-DeMbare outcome’

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Highlanders midfield maestro Blessing Gumiso believes luck will play a huge part in the ailing Bulawayo giants’ encounter with old nemesis Dynamos in a crucial league match at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Highlanders have failed to beat Dynamos since 2006 when they won the championship under the tutelage of Methembe Ndlovu. Since then, the Bosso fans have endured great pain every time they play DeMbare, with their best performance being draws.

Despite sometimes totally dominating Dynamos, Bosso’s efforts always end in distress as the Glamour Boys somehow score from nowhere. A good example is in 2013 when Highlanders seemed to have finally ended Dynamos’ dominance over them and as they were leading 1-0, the Harare giants grabbed an equaliser during the referee’s optional time.

Dynamos were awarded a corner kick and from the resultant set piece pounced to level the scores.

At last Sunday’s Highlanders midyear meeting, club chairman Peter Dube said they were hoping other teams drop points for Bosso to remain in contention.

However, for a club like Highlanders to bank on other teams dropping points instead of winning their own games is worrisome.

Gumiso, who was part of the all-conquering Bosso class of 1998, believes luck, teamwork and a proper mental state will have a huge bearing on the result this Sunday.

“I want to start by saying there’s nothing, totally nothing special about Dynamos. Highlanders’ players should just tell themselves that they’re going to fulfil just another league match and once they do that, they will play with a relaxed mind,” said Gumiso.

He said the players also need to fight for one another on the pitch and have maximum concentration from the first whistle.

“One deadly thing about Dynamos though is that you can only celebrate beating them when you shake hands after the final whistle, otherwise before that, you can only do so at your own peril. We might not have beaten them since 2006 but the fact is that we’ve always played better than them, but somehow they always come out victorious and I think it’s all to do with concentration and self belief on the part of our boys,” said Gumiso, who was plucked from Mutare United by then coach Rahman Gumbo in 1998.

Highlanders were caught in a similar situation in 2013 when the likes of Mthulisi Maphosa started celebrating in anticipation of victory in the 90th minute only for Dynamos to equalise with the last kick of the game in additional time.

Asked how they managed to contain Dynamos during his playing days when they would even beat DeMbare home and away, Gumiso attributed their success to coach Gumbo and the then manager Ernest Maphepha Sibanda.

“Those two guys are the best motivators. Before a Dynamos game, they would take us to some leisure places where we would totally forget about football and that got our minds relaxed. I think presently the club could be over-preparing these guys for the match,” said Gumiso.

He also said they had good players on the pitch.

“Captain Biya (Thulani Ncube) would call for a players’ gathering in camp to hear opinions on how best we could tackle DeMbare without the coach or manager’s contribution. Richard Choruma, Charles Chilufya, Siza Khoza, Alexander Phiri and myself would later also have our own meeting on how we could win the midfield battle since it was Dynamos’ best department, and then of course go out there and fight like cornered buffaloes,” said Gumiso.

He and his midfield partners saw Bosso turning the opposition midfield into a group of amateurs.

Bosso and DeMbare head to head since 2006

2006: Dynamos 0-1 Highlanders, Highlanders 2-0 Dynamos

2007: Highlanders 1-2 Dynamos, Dynamos 0-0 Highlanders

2008: Highlanders 1-1 Dynamos, Dynamos 1-1 Highlanders

2009: Dynamos 4-0 Highlanders, Highlanders 0-1 Dynamos

2010: Dynamos 1-0 Highlanders, Highlanders 0-3 Dynamos

2011: Highlanders 0-0 Dynamos, Dynamos 3-1 Highlanders

2012: Dynamos 1-1 Highlanders, Highlanders 1-1 Dynamos

2013: Highlanders 0-1 Dynamos, Dynamos 1-1 Highlanders

2014: Highlanders 0-1 Dynamos, Dynamos 1-0 Highlanders

Bosso/DeMbare table since 2006