Online Reporter
Mugove Chigada
Deputy Sports Editor
FOURTEEN years ago, Lloyd Mutasa departed DeMbare’s hallowed halls, leaving behind a trail of mesmerising football, but tantalisingly short on results.
The year was 2011, when then a youthful Mutasa said he wanted the Glamour Boys to play like Spanish giants Barcelona.
That was the period when Catalan giants firmly believed in death by a thousand passes.
His polished players from Kiglon — the likes of Denver Mukamba, Devon Chafa, Gift Bello and Thomas Magorimbo — delivered just that, dancing to the rhythm of that famed tiki-taka.
But in true Moses fashion, Mutasa didn’t take this team to the Promised Land but had firmly laid the foundation for Kalisto Pasuwa’s triumphs — four league titles in a row. Mutasa had a second coming, redeemed himself but the league title still eluded him.
When he left after few months in charge in 2011, Dynamos was by far not relegation material, but those are some bitter memories to swallow for Samaita.
A lot has changed since then.
On Saturday, as Mutasa celebrated with MWOS at Ngoni after edging Bikita Minerals 1-0, there was one thing in common between him and Dynamos, albeit in a bizarre way.
Relegation!
For the first time this season, Mutasa said relegation was no longer “something to worry about after reaching 40 points.”
On the same day, with Dynamos firmly stuck on 15 points after 19 games, relegation became a reality.
For the record, since the Castle Lager Premiership was increased from 16 to 18 teams in 2017, no club have collected 15 points or less in 19 games and go on to survive relegation.
The closest of major fight-backs after a poor first 19 games is Yadah in 2023 when they had just 17 points after 19 games. They fought back to survive relegation after adding 23 points in their last 15 games.
Against those facts, coach Saul Chaminuka admits Dynamos are in a difficult position.
“(Relegation) has been a matter of emergency from the beginning of the season . . . We have been failing to score goals and in the last two games we have failed to score a goal,” Chaminuka said after their 2-0 loss to Herentals at Rufaro on Saturday. To put things into perspective, during that period from 2017, there are 18 teams in six different seasons that have collected at least 15 points or better but still ended up relegated by the end of the season.
In 2024, Bulawayo City on 23 points were eight points better than Dynamos right now but still got relegated.
In 2023, both Triangle and Sheasham were relegated by the end of the season, despite collecting 20 points in the first 19 games, five points better than Dynamos now.
In 2017, Harare City went on to be relegated even after 21 points in the first 19 games, and they only had to find their way back after taking over the How Mine franchise.
The full list of clubs that have managed 15 points or better after 19 games but still got relegated includes Bulawayo Chiefs, Chegutu Pirates, Sheasham, Triangle, Cranborne Bullets, Harare City, Bulawayo City, Tenax, Whawha, Chapungu, TelOne, Hwange, Mushowani, Nichrut, Shabanie Mine and Hwange.
The likes of Bulawayo City, Hwange and Harare City found themselves in such scenarios more than one season.
It is a long list of teams that have been better than Dynamos at this stage but still got relegated by the end of the season.
This is all happening at a time their former son Mutasa at MWOS, had mysteriously spoken of relegation for the better part of the first half of the season.
“We have (finally) avoided relegation . . . We wanted a 40-point mark, and we have avoided relegation,” said Mutasa.
“Now it’s a matter of getting back, look at ourselves, and saying, “Do we have enough depth to get to the top 8?”
“I would like to believe that if we have avoided relegation, probably for now, our priority now is to be part of the top eight.”
Reality, though, is that this is a team in the title race, and Dynamos would envy their position and the beautiful football that Mutasa — the greatest showman for now — delivers at Ngoni.
MWOS will be encouraged to know that the last club to collect 40 points after 19 games and then go on to win the league title was FC Platinum in the 2021/22 season.
Eventually, Noman Mapeza’s side collected 75 points by the end of the season, and they were 12 points better than runners-up Chicken Inn.
In 2023, eventual champions Ngezi Platinum, under Takesure Chiragwi, had 36 points after 19 games, 4 points poorer than MWOS right now.
In 2024, Simba Bhora had 34 points after the same 19 games, and MWOS right now are six points better than that Tonderai Ndiraya side.
Both Ngezi Platinum and Simba Bhora ended the season on 66 points — a 66.7 percent success rate for Ngezi Platinum in the remaining 15 games and a 71.1 percent success rate for Simba Bhora in the remaining 15 games of their own championship year.
Any performance above that, in the last 15 games of the season, could deliver the title to MWOS.
But from this stage, it is the depth in their team that could shape their destiny.
On Saturday they had their top scorer Billy Veremu starting on the bench, but those that started asked a lot of questions.
Arthur Banda was particularly unplayable.
“We might be able to add one or two players depending on how negotiations are. But like always, we would like to develop football in Zimbabwe. Our team wants to develop these youngsters. It may not be too much of big names, but these youngsters,” said Mutasa.
As Mutasa celebrates his new milestone, the reality is that at his former team, Dynamos, relegation is a reality, and “tears of the seven million souls” could soon sink the ship led by Captain Saul.
