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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
AN UGLY confrontation could have degenerated into total chaos yesterday after giants Dynamos and Herentals found themselves bickering over the right to use the National Sports Stadium for the morning training session, ahead of the two teams’ Castle Lager Premiership match this weekend.
The incident, which Dynamos found “provocative” and described as “cheap mind games” in the build up to the low-key derby tomorrow, was only resolved at the intervention of the Sports and Recreation Commission, who are the custodians of the stadium.
Dynamos, who usually conduct their morning training sessions at the venue on Thursdays, had to shift their programme to later in the afternoon. But they were clearly not happy with the turn of events.
The Harare giants felt Herentals overstepped the professional bounds when showing up at the venue exactly the same time they know the Glamour Boys regularly book for their drills and the open media session.
Herentals usually train at the B Arena, sometimes concurrently. But yesterday they strode on both fields, with their women’s team also involved at the B Arena earlier on.
By the time DeMbare arrived at the stadium for their Thursday routines, Herentals officials had already started arranging the cones and preparing other training material on the pitch.
The Herentals players were first on the pitch, leaving the Dynamos squad puzzled.
The Glamour Boys later found out that The Students, who will technically be the home team tomorrow, had also hired the stadium for the same time. Herentals claimed they had the privilege to access the venue ahead of the away team.
Verbal exchanges ensued before the Glamour Boys decided to give way to their opponents. Dynamos coach Herbert Maruwa looked frustrated as he led his charges out of the stadium, before driving off towards the city centre.
“I can’t really comment on that,” he said during the media session.
“Maybe there was a mix-up between the offices; our offices, the SRC and Herentals. But it has been resolved; we will train in the afternoon,” said Maruwa.
The former DeMbare juniors coach instead said they will not give in to the “mind games”. Dynamos are looking to bounce back following last week’s barren draw against Triangle at the same venue.
“So far so good. The team is in good shape. We drew with Triangle in our last game. We need to quickly forget about that game and go for the three points.
“It’s a tricky game. We need to make sure mentally we are up there, they are our bogey side and this time around we need to make sure we are well-prepared,” said Maruwa.
But Herentals have over the years proved difficult customers in the exchanges between the two teams.
Statistics between Dynamos and Herentals are evenly balanced. The teams have met six times since The Students came on board in 2018. Each team has won two, drawn two and lost two.
But Herentals bullied their established crosstown rivals last season when they collected four points from the two league meetings.
The first leg ended goalless before The Students walked away with the bragging rights following a 1-0 win in the return leg, from a Prince Chama strike.
Herentals even claimed they had more supporters than Dynamos, at a time the Glamour Boys were going through challenges that led to their supporters boycotting games.
But things have changed. Attendance by the DeMbare fans has improved significantly this season.
Herentals, as the home team tomorrow, are planning to mobilise their supporters, who comprise mainly of their college students, to counter the DeMbare crowds.
Their coach Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva laughed off the earlier incident, about the clash of training times, and claimed they were coming to claim another big scalp.
Maruwa, however, declared it
“That’s mind games. We are going to play on Saturday and if they win they will have the right to make claims,” said Maruwa, who is happy with his new-look DeMbare squad, after conducting a near-complete overhaul ahead of the new season.
“I am very happy. This is a completely new team, we started training in January. It’s now the first week of May and I am happy with the results we are getting.
“We managed to win three, drew three and lost once and again you can see we managed to keep six clean sheets. Bulawayo Chiefs are the only team out of seven who managed to score against us,” said Maruwa.
Dynamos, who are currently in fourth place, could temporarily reclaim top spot tomorrow if they win against Herentals, and then wait to see how the top teams Highlanders, CAPS United and Ngezi Platinum Stars would face on Sunday.
Log leaders Highlanders host Simba Bhora at Barbourfields.
Makepekepe also have a home date with Hwange at the National Sports Stadium while Ngezi Platinum Stars welcome FC Platinum at Baobab.
Online Reporter