Makopa thrilled with return

Makopa missed the first part of the season, because of illness, and resumed training this week and said he was happy to have recovered fully from a strange shin problem.

Makopa has been doing fitness training for the last two weeks and feels he is now up for the challenge to face the Premiership demands.
“I have been out for some time so I am taking it easy in the mean time,” he said.

“Although I am training full-time now, I think I might need two to three weeks more to get myself in good shape before I can kick the ball.
“But the bottom line is I am now okay and I cannot add anything more to that.”

Dynamos coach Callisto Pasuwa said they are still monitoring his fitness and confirmed they are set to register him during the mid-season transfer window, which closes at the end of the month.

Pasuwa might also find himself with tough decisions to make on the other long-term injury casualty Byron Madzokere who has been pinned down by a nagging back problem.
The DeMbare coach said if he does not show signs of quick recovery, they could be forced to sacrifice Madzokere by de-registering him to accommodate new additions.

“The doctor said he (Madzokere) should go for MRI scan to establish the problem with the back injury but if it doesn’t work out we will have to leave him out to allow him recover fully and replace him on that slot,” said Pasuwa.

Dynamos are currently weighing their options on former CAPS United fullback Oscar Machapa who has been training with the club this week.
Machapa is currently hunting for a new club after he was released by South African side Moroka Swallows recently.

“When we started we had serious problems with our defence. So it’s one area we need to beef up. We have been talking to one or two players and we will see how it goes.
“Oscar has been training with us and by coming to training means he may be interested. So it’s an issue we are looking into to establish the contractual standing.

“He has been doing well at training and if anything happens and we sit down with him, I am sure he will be one of the players whom we may consider to beef up our defence.
“Now it depends on how we are going to talk with him. As a coach I will keep monitoring the situation,” said Pasuwa. DeMbare could lose some of their key players like Partson Jaure, Ocean Mushure and Devon Chafa to South Africa.

Goalkeeper Artwell Mukandi is already in South Africa at Mpumalanga Black Aces where he is undergoing trials.
Pasuwa said they needed to sign two goalkeepers as cover for George Chigova and are currently looking at former goalkeepers Zondai Nyaungwa and Knowledge Jimu.

“The main problem is that we are hearing rumours that there are some players who are set to leave for South Africa. So we are not rushing things until we see what exactly will happen with these guys.

“You never really know because we were in a meeting with the executive yesterday (Wednesday) and they said there is nothing official.
“Last time again we had a similar situation and at the last minute that’s when we lost players like Rodreck (Mutuma) and Simba (Sithole). We had to run around to balance things but already it was late. In the end it will come back to haunt the technical team.

“Our wish is to have 30 players registered for the second half of the season whom we can count on when we need them to cover up the gaps. If you look at the first half we only used about 23 players consistently.

“We had players like Jeremy, Sydney and Byron who couldn’t even play a single game. We had also included some juniors but three or four of them were injured before we could get anywhere.

“We need depth because we play too many games in a season. But that’s Dynamos, you have to adjust to every situation,” said Pasuwa.
So far Dynamos have registered Blessing Moyo on their juniors quota to replace one of their young players who was injured early in the season.

Meanwhile, Dynamos are set to receive the first batch of training kit from Adidas soon after their training session at Raylton Sports Club today.
Already the replica shirts for the fans have been put on sale and E-Sport, who are the official distributors of the kit, yesterday revealed that the club will receive its batch today.

The deal was brokered by bankers BancABC who are the principal sponsors for giants Dynamos and Highlanders.