Spotlight on DeMbare recruitment

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

AS Ghanaian defender Sylvester Appiah waved goodbye to Dynamos at the weekend following the expiry of his contract, it must be time for the Harare giants to take stock of their foreign recruitment policy.

The 26-year-old, who joined Dynamos in 2020, hailed the Glamour Boys as a big brand in his farewell message posted on Twitter.

“Blues is a big brand and it is a dream of every player to achieve something big with the club. Unfortunately, I just have to say goodbye to the blues.

“Being with them was big, winning the President’s Independence Cup, Chibuku Super Cup semi-finalists and finishing third in the recent season. Dynamos have good supporters with a great winning mentality,” said Appiah.

But then the Ghanaian, will be leaving, in a massive clear-out that will also likely claim the scalps of his compatriot Martin Orfori, Cameroonian Albert Eonde and Alex Orotomal of Nigeria.

Emmanuel Paga, also of Ghana, who was the team’s leading scorer with 10 goals, is the only foreigner likely to be spared the axe. Dynamos, however, are yet to make an official statement.

“We are still in the process of notifying people of their status for next season. It is not good to talk about such sensitive details in the media. Of course Appiah has decided to go public but we will issue a detailed statement at the end of the year,” said DeMbare spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo.

Appiah arrived in Zimbabwe close to a decade ago when he was recruited by former Division One side, Twalumba. He then went on to feature for ZPC Kariba for five seasons before he was snapped up by DeMbare on a two-year contract just before the game was disrupted by Covid-19 in 2020.

He was a decent player. He arrived at Dynamos with a reputation after he had been voted ZPC Kariba’s Player of the Year the previous season.

Since football was not played in 2020 because of Covid-19, Appiah featured in the Chibuku Super Cup last year and scored the solitary goal against Yadah that ushered DeMbare into the semi-finals of the tournament, despite playing as a centre-back.

But in his first full season, the Ghanaian had to contend with cameos in defence where he competed for the starting place with Frank Makarati and captain Partson Jaure.

And now, the 26-year-old is one of the players that have been earmarked for release by the Glamour Boys, in response to the team’s failure to win silverware in the 2022 season.

In fact, Dynamos have not lifted a major trophy in the last eight years despite extending their tentacles as far as Cameroon, Nigeria, Congo and Ghana in scouting for players to shore up their cause.

Instead, the Glamour Boys have had several misses in the last decade, which brings into question their policy on the recruitment of foreign players.

In 2012, the duo of Zambian forwards Derrick Kabwe and Arthur Kaseloki voluntarily withdrew from their contracts citing their failure to withstand the heat at the Harare giants.

DeMbare coach then, Callisto Pasuwa, was disappointed the former Zesco United pair did not deliver in their failed Champions League and Confederation Cup campaigns where the Glamour Boys had been hoping to cash in on the Zambians’ international experience in particular.

But they both flopped in their debut season and that was not helped too by a spate of injuries and illness. It was Kaseloki, with at least eight appearances, who had featured more often of the pair who were brought on a US$40 000 deal.

Pasuwa counseled DeMbare then that Kabwe and Kaseloki’s case highlighted the need for local clubs to be more prudent when bringing in foreign players.

“Any club would want foreign players, but it is important that those players would have to be a cut above local material.

“You really have to feel it when you play against them or notice it if you are watching them playing and there are a number of examples of very talented foreign players who graced our league.

“If you recall that when Sandras Kumwenda was at Dynamos you could see there was quality in him. It was the same story with the late Derby Mankinka at Darryn T and the late Webster Chikabala at Mhangura and many other top Zambian players who came here.

“CAPS United had such brilliant midfielders like Ian Bakala and Joseph Kamwendo or a tough defender of Laughter Chilembe’s calibre and their qualities told you that these were foreign players.

“So going forward clubs should have to be more careful about who they buy and those players must not be average otherwise it is better to work on improving the local players we have,” Pasuwa said then.

But it seemed Dynamos did not take the message to heart. In 2016, Portuguese coach Paulo Jorge Silva, whose credentials were just as controversial, brought Portuguese midfielder Carlos Alexandre Mendes Branco to the Glamour Boys, and both turned out to be massive frauds.

Dynamos also got it wrong in 2019 when they signed the quartet of Herve Vincent Mbega, Ngahan Claude Junior (both Cameroonians), Robert Sackey of Ghana and Congolese Ngandu Mangala.

Mbega, who passed through the structures of Spanish side Malllorca’s development and played for Cameroon Under-20 at the FIFA World Cup could have been a good signing but it turned out his career was virtually over due to injuries by the time he came to Zimbabwe. Background checks were not done.

Probably the last foreign player of note to don the DeMbare stripe was Cameroonian Christian Entouba Epoupa. The big striker was a front runner for the Golden Boot in 2017 but eventually finished joint second on 12 goals with Black Rhinos’ Lot Chiwunga, five behind top goalscorer Dominic Chungwa.

Still, the Cameroonian was one of the two DeMbare players who made it among the 11 Soccer Star of the Year finalists, with his captain Ocean Mushure.

Dynamos used to attract the best players from abroad and the foreign recruits usually stood head and shoulders above the locals.

Legendary former DeMbare captain Memory Mucherahowa captured this aptly in his book “Soul of Seven Million Dreams”.

Even DeMbare fans still have fond memories of Francis Kasanda and Sandras Kumwenda more than 20 years after the Zambians graced our football pitches.

“There was George Owusu, he was part of our 1998 Champions League team. I would call him a football thief, because he had so many tricks,” wrote Mucherahowa.

“You see, these foreign players brought in some of the little things that we didn’t know. Kasanda, that big striker, was good at ball retention, so he totally changed our game plan and tactics when he joined Dynamos.”

That was the impact of the foreign players to DeMbare.