Pasuwa cautious of Muculmana

encounter in Maputo on Saturday.
Perennial Champions League campaigners DeMbare are scheduled to fly out to the Mozambican capital tomorrow morning for a cagey assignment that should set the tone for their bid to reach the group stage of this tournament.
Although Dynamos will be looking for a result they hope will boost their chances of qualifying for the second round, the Harare giants have also chosen to be pragmatic and revealed that they would not throw caution to the wind in their quest to achieve such a result.
Pasuwa, taking charge of his first Champions League game as coach, also said he would blend youth and experience when he names his final travelling party tomorrow afternoon.
The Dynamos coach said he was aware of the difficulties of playing away in Africa and would not go for an open game against the Mozambican champions.
Such is the significance that Pasuwa has placed on this assignment that he invited former Dynamos mentor David Mandigora for their afternoon session at the National Sports Stadium yesterday where the veteran coach gave them tips about Liga Muculmana.
Mandigora recently returned home after a two-year stint in Mozambique where he was in charge of Liga Muculmana’s rivals Costa Do Sol.
Pasuwa said it was imperative that his charges plug some of the loopholes that were exposed in their Charity Shield clash against Motor Action at the National Sports Stadium last Sunday.
Although Dynamos beat the Mighty Bulls 2-1 to retain the Charity Shield, Pasuwa was not amused by the manner in which his charges defended and also conceded the goal scored by Motor Action’s Ishmael Lawe.
Their apparent lack of numbers in the attacking third and the manner in which they are still missing chances is also still cause for concern for their coach.
Pasuwa spent the better part of yesterday morning’s work out trying to ensure his players sharpen their attack and also tighten the screws at the back.
“We are trying to make sure our defence is compact especially our central defence because if the ball is put behind the defence we have been having problems yet we should not be having problems with aerial balls especially with the experienced players that we have in that area.
“We have also not been getting into the box in numbers but I am glad that we are beginning to improve on that and players like Denver (Mukamba) and Muparati (Tawanda) are no longer staying very wide on the flanks on the occasions that we would need them in the middle.
“Each time we lose the ball we just have to ensure that we track the opponents down and we cannot afford to give them a chance to come to us through the middle,’’ Pasuwa said.
The former Dynamos and Zimbabwe midfielder might be short on coaching experience on the continent but he is a veteran of many battles in the jungles of Africa during his lengthy career as a player for both club and country.
Pasuwa featured in Dynamos’ history-making Champions League final clash against Cote d’Ivoire’s ASEC Mimosas in 1998 and knows all too well the psychological warfare that often characterises such matches.
“Considering the fact that we are going away we have to fuse in some senior players because we need the experience at this level of the game.
“Because we are playing away we also have to take a cautious approach and we cannot go all out for an open game, they are champions of Mozambique and we cannot take them lightly, we ought to ensure we close in on them from the middle .
“Yogi (Mandigora) will assist us during some of the training sessions since he knows quite a lot about Liga Muculmana and played against them on a number of occasions when he was coaching in Mozambique,’’ Pasuwa said.
Pasuwa also said he had been working hard on the players’ psyche ahead of the assignment in which Dynamos are trying to avoid the ignominy they suffered in last year’s campaign in which their Champions League flirtation lasted just one round.
“I have been talking to them to expect some frustrations and to be ready for total war.
“I believe that they lost in Algeria last year largely because they let the frustrations get into their heads and they ended up picking yellow and red cards.
“But we have a number of experienced guys and this should help the younger players that we have,’’ Pasuwa said.
Dynamos seemed to have secured a place in the second round when they thumped MC Alger of Algeria 4-1 at Rufaro in a first round first leg tie only to succumb to the intense psychological warfare in the North African country where they were handed a 3-0 hiding and finished the game with nine men following the expulsions of Archieford Gutu and Guthrie Zhokinyi.
Big striker Takesure Chinyama, who has played European Champions League football, defenders David Kutyauripo, George Magariro and Zhokinyi, goalkeeper Washington Arubi and forward Murape Murape, who have played a lot of continental football, should provide the guiding hand to such players like Denver Mukamba, Ocean Mushure, Tawanda Muparati, Partson Jaure and Rodreck Mutuma.
Chinyama put on a man-of-the-match performance against Motor Action and Pasuwa and the DeMbare faithful will be hoping that the former Hwange striker, who until recently had been playing professional football with Legia Warsaw in Poland, will once again lead their line of attack.
Pasuwa, who has had to endure constant pressure on his job and the behind-the-scenes politics that often characterise the Dynamos family, also said it was imperative that the players “retain their focus and unite for the club’s cause’’.
It is no secret that even as they go into such a big battle like the Champions League, it is not everyone in the club’s leadership who is behind the coach and his technical crew.
There are revelations that there are some members of the executive who have ganged up to try and frustrate Pasuwa and eventually get him fired.