‘We’re the flagship team’

National Sports Stadium on Sunday, when he declared that Dynamos is the flagship football club in this country.
The Glamour Boys date Motor Action in the final and both clubs can barely wait for Sunday’s showdown.

The nation will be waiting to see who will be crowned the inaugural winners of this lucrative tournament, which has added a new dimension to local football knockout tourneys, with the final set to be beamed live on SuperSport 9.
Coaches and captains from both sides were on the warpath at a media briefing, organised by the sponsors yesterday, promising fans value for their money. The organisers, who have slashed the cheapest ticket prices from US$3 to US$2, for those who buy in advance, expect a bumper crowd of between 40 000 to 60 000 fans at the giant stadium.

With the PSL battling to tie up a deal with SuperSport for the pay-per-view television giant to come into partnership with local football, the organisers believe a full house at the giant stadium will send a big message, across Africa, that football is alive and well in this country.
South African officials have been invited to handle the game, continuing the trend from the semi-finals, where foreign referees were in charge. Motor Action and Dynamos have met four times in different competitions this year with each side winning twice, and the two Harare teams could not have called for a better ending to settle the scores this season.

But Dynamos are coming into the final riding on a crest of success following their triumph in the Premiership title race last week, which saw them replacing the Mighty Bulls as the new domestic football kings.
While Motor Action are still recovering from the setback, DeMbare appear in buoyant mood and assistant coach Tonderai Ndiraya and skipper Maringwa yesterday resembled warriors ready to finish off the battle.

“We are the flagship of Zimbabwean football and we really want to take this one as well,” said Maringwa.
“This is the first final of the Mbada Diamonds Cup and as the champions we have to win it.”

Dynamos have been boosted by the recovery of their players who had received knocks from the last game against Kiglon.
Chief striker Roderick Mutuma, Murape Murape and David Kutyauripo, who missed the first day of training due to injuries this week, are back with the rest of the team while defender George Magariro is still being assessed.

Ndiraya said the Glamour Boys will not be carried away by the excitement of winning the championship, as they were well aware of the challenge posed by the Mighty Bulls.

“We want to win this cup and that is not a secret. We made our intentions clear and we hope that by the end of the day on Sunday the trophy will be in our cabinet.
“We had a few guys with knocks but now everyone is back to fitness. Of course we won the league and everyone is elated about it.
“We have had brief celebrations but we are back to serious business. Everyone is focused on the job at hand and we are looking forward to it,” said Ndiraya.

The Mighty Bulls’ coach Antipas said they wanted to finish the season on a high note.
The Mighty Bulls have a chance to finish with two pieces of silverware in their cabinet having won the BancABC Sup8r Cup.

Antipas said he was relishing the final showdown against Dynamos.
“We are definitely looking forward to it. It is always a pleasure playing against a team like Dynamos because the atmosphere is really charged up,” said Antipas.

“Right now we don’t have any worries in terms of injuries to players because we have a full squad to choose our team from.
“Probably the only worry we may have is the selection headache.”
Mbada Diamonds executive George Manyaya said they have lined up 15 buses to ferry people free from the high density suburbs of GlenView, Glen Norah, Mufakose,

Mbare, Chitungwiza, Hatcliffe, Kambuzuma and Ruwa.
The cheapest ticket costs US$2 for the advance purchases while the same ticket will be US$3 at the gates. PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele said tickets were available at Beta Ball stores at Ximex Mall, CABS Centre, Joina City and OK Supermarkets.

Motor Action and Dynamos have clashed four times this year with each team winning twice. DeMbare triumphed in the first meeting when they beat the Mighty Bulls 4-1 in a penalty shootout to lift the season-opening NetOne Charity Shield, and the US$50 000 winners’ cheque, at Rufaro on March 13.
The match had ended 2-2 after extra time with DeMbare having taken the lead twice courtesy of Murape Murape and Timire Mamvura but the Mighty Bulls hit back with goals from Enasio Perezo and Masimba Mambare.

The Mighty Bulls came back stronger to win the next two encounters.
They handed Dynamos an early defeat in their league campaign after registering a 2-0 win in the first leg and then went on to eliminate the Glamour Boys from the

BancABC Sup8r Cup with a penalty shootout victory in the semi-finals.
Dynamos, however, go into the Mbada Diamonds Cup final in high spirits following the 2-0 win in the last meeting between the two sides, which helped the Harare giants to edge closer to the league championship.