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OFF THE BALL
TITLES are won for a lot of reasons, but defence and character are two of the biggest, and in front of a militant away  capacity crowd at Barbourfields, it was exactly those qualities that got Dynamos back to the top of the log as they look set to break new ground with a third PSL championship on the trot.

While their biggest rivals Highlanders broke record after record in bagging the title four times in a row from 1999 to 2002, the Bulawayo giants achieved that feat under two coaches, with Rahman Gumbo winning the first double before the late British expatriate Eddie May took over to register back-to-back titles, Dynamos are looking really serious about making a treble under one coach, Calisto Pasuwa and take their tally to a whooping 19 titles.

You can only watch from a distance and marvel at the guy, or if you are a fellow football coach, envy this down to earth fellow they call Ras, for his mouthful achievements in such a short time in charge of the biggest and most successful football club in the country. Apart from clinching championships in the past two years, he has also been winning the country’s premier knock out tournament, the Mbada Diamonds Cup, and was last season capped Coach of the Year, and that is no mean achievement by any standard. By winning back to back titles, Pasuwa joined the elite class of achievers like Gumbo, Sunday Chidzambwa (1994/5) who achieved a double at Dynamos, Charles Mhlauri who scored a double at Caps United (2004/5) as well as Shepherd Murape, who managed a double with Dynamos in 1980 and 1981.

Am I putting the cart before the horse? I mean the season has not ended and Pasuwa has certainly not won the third championship and the race actually looks wide open with Highlanders and Harare City still in with a big shout, but what no one can dispute is that the guy has done very well for himself and the Dynamos family so far. Whether Highlanders steal it from under his nose, and whether Harare City brew a shocker and steal it, it remains to be seen, but which ever team will be named champions is the one which will want it most.
And talking about desiring it most, it was demonstrated on Sunday for the world to see on a SuperSport television channel when the two biggest clubs in the country, Highlanders and Dynamos crossed swords in certainly one of the biggest matches on the continent at Barbourfields. It was a kind of tie that can be pitched at the same level with a Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates tie down South, or Al Ahly and Zamalek tie in Egypt.

In that match, Dynamos showed that there is something that Pasuwa is doing right, or rather, there is something special about them when they weathered the storm to snatch a 1-0 win over Highlanders. There could also been an element of luck on their side, in a match which was a close combat affair and could have gone either way. But Bosso blinked in the dying stages of the game, conceding a penalty which was converted by defender Ocean Mushure, who should be a darling to Dynamos fans by now.

Forget about the sending off of Highlanders striker Njabulo Ncube and Dynamos defender Partson Jaure, and the latter’s desperate attempt to level matters with the referee with a kick after he was shown the red card, the match lived up to its billing and fans certainly enjoyed every bit of it.

Midfielder Mthulisi Maphosa, despite conceding a penalty, gave it his all and showed why he remains a vital cog in Kelvin Kaindu’s team. Bruce Kangwa never stopped running all afternoon and caused all sorts of problems when moving forward with deft touches and showed that he is a favourite for the top individual award come end of season.  Peter Moyo also sprung back to life with telling skills and passes in the middle of the park with Bhekimpilo Ncube running with renewed energy on the left with the defence of Innocent Mapuranga and young workaholic Dumisani Ndlovu holding fort for the better part of the day.

As the score line said it all, Highlanders did not get it right in the final third of the pitch although with a bit of luck, Njabulo and Bhekimpilo could have found the back of the net. One thing that came out of that match about Highlanders’ strike force is that it will get better results with young Gabriel Nyoni playing wide so as to make full use of his speed and dribbling skills, as opposed to parking him in front of central defenders, who make life really difficult for him if they are as big and tall as we saw on Sunday. But to take nothing away from the young man, he is a university student by the way, very gifted academically and football wise and is certainly a player for the future-for both club and country (underline club and country).

With Highlanders chasing a elusive first win over Dynamos in seven years, which by the way could have come in the first half of the season in Harare had the referee of the day not decided to add more and more and more optional time allowing Dynamos to equalise with the last kick of the day, Dynamos coach, Pasuwa seemed to have something in mind. And the moment he threw into the fray midfielder Cliff Sekete in the last 20 minutes or so, his engine room began to tick and we began to see big right back Oscar Machapa going forward more rapidly than before, left footed Mushure going up more rapid than before and eventually getting that memorable call. We began to see Highlanders midfielders being forced to push backwards to try and assist their backline, which in the last stages of the game, had lost shape with the injury and subsequent substitution of committed captain Mapuranga.

The script of the day would not be complete without the mention of stand in Dynamos captain Tawanda Muparati, one kind of guy you can only watch and enjoy in this game called football. The guy has the technique, skill, vision and coolness and no wonder is tipped in the same breath with Bosso’s Kangwa for the Soccer Star of the Year prize.

He has been consistent since the season started and by then, players who could spoil the party for him when it comes to selecting the best performer were team mate Devon Chafa, who has since been suspended by Fifa after banned substances were found in his blood sample, and Bosso’s Milton Ncube, who still remains among top performers but seems to have misplaced  his scoring boots in recent matches. And of course, you can not rule out leading scorer, Tendai Ndoro from Chicken Inn and FC Platinum’s dribbling wizard Ali Sadiki and scoring machine Charles Sibanda. There are of course other names at Caps United and Harare city, no wonder why their teams are in the top bracket of the log standings.

Still on the Dynamos and Bosso script, it would be incomplete without the mention of Dynamos goalkeeper George Chingova. Often described as erratic at times, the guy came to the party at the right time, thwarting Highlanders  raids on a number of times and even going an extra mile to kill the Bosso rhythm by feigning injury, so it seems, going down four or five times in the last stanza of the game. But whether he was feigning injury or not, he did well as he did not concede and in such a game, defence and the goalkeeper have a telling contribution to the result as they have the responsibility of holding the team together. Simply put, you cannot lose a game if you have not conceded and that is how important Chingova was to Dynamos that day, and with continued brilliance like that, minus “picking injuries” resulting in stoppages on numerous occasions in one game,  I can see foreign teams knocking on the doors of Dynamos wanting the big goalie in the not so distant future.

It has always been the case that star performers in the local league, particularly in Dynamos, for whatever reason, find themselves attracting interest of  foreign clubs, and going for rich pickings down south. This came back to mind when I watched a preview of the Caf Champions League final featuring South Africa’s Orlando Pirates and Egypt’s Al Ahly, whose first leg will be played tonight in Johannesburg. The banner behind the coaches had the logo of Orlando Pirates and three big corporates who are bankrolling the club, making it one of the best sponsored clubs in the continent.

They can afford anyone at Dynamos and Highlanders, including their coaches, no doubt about that, but when our own champions went to the African safari, they had less sponsorship which, in fact, only came when they were travelling, yet there was no budget to sign quality players and also try and keep performers from last season who actually won the title for the club like Denver Mukamba.

So when Dynamos played in the Champions league this year, they were a skeletal team from last season, without key performers like midfielder Mukamba, striker Roderick Mutuma and big forward Takesure Chinyama who had helped them make a good foundation for the title in the first half of last season, and would later on help Pirates in South Africa in the opening stages of the Champions league this year. Striker Simba Sithole, who rejoined the club in the mid transfer period, had also left the club at the end of last season.

The Harare giants were booted out of the continental competition in the opening round by Tunisian side CA Bizertin, falling 3-1 on aggregate after suffering a 3-0 drubbing away in the first leg.

And last year, they were booted out by Tunisian giants Esperance, who hammered them 7-1 on aggregate, having lost in the previous challenge to MC Alger of Algeria, meaning the Zimbabwean champions always come short against North African teams.
But our neighbours from South Africa, Pirates, have beaten all the big boys in the continent in the group stages and knock out stages, talk of TP Mazembe, Esperance, Zamalek and Al Ahly, and as they go into the final against Africa’s most successful club, Al Alhy, we wish them well, but it would have been a better feeling had it been our own countrymen.

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