Zimbabwe’s epic clash By Ishemunyoro Chingwere In-form log leaders Highlanders and their fiercest rivals Dynamos are vying for supremacy in the return leg of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League flagship fixture at Barbourfields as the race for the league crown enters the home stretch today. The match kicks off at 3pm, is live in high definition on Supersport 9 and it just doesn’t get better than this. For Bosso, the stakes are high because victory will not only leave them in firm position for the crown, which they last won back in 2006, but will also break the irksome jinx of not having managed a victory over DeMbare in the last seven years. That the match is in their own backyard, Emagumeni, and that they can still afford a draw and still maintain a two-point advantage over the defending champions, is sure to lessen the burden on Kelvin Kaindu’s charges. Bosso go into the match buoyed by their first placing on the standings and by the fact that they are by far the league’s best attacking team, having scored 40 goals in 25 matches, five times better than Dynamos. For Dynamos, who hit turbulent waters in the second half of the season before warming up for the big clash with a massive moraleboosting triumph over Division One-bound Tripple B, it is a match in which defeat is not an option as it might signal the end of their title defence. While Bosso will hope to capitalise on current form, history is firmly in DeMbare’s favour as the Glamour Boys have not lost a league match to Bosso since 2006, when the Bulawayo giants were still under the mentorship of Methembe “Mayor” Ndlovu. DeMbare have this season already shelved the Uhuru Cup and the megabucks Bob ’89 Cup despite playing the second-best football to Bosso’s free-flowing brand of football. A sour taste is still in the mouths of Bosso fans, having lost last year’s championship on the last day of the campaign to their everlasting adversaries by the slimmest of margins — goal difference — despite having led the pack for the better part of the chase. The reverse fixture at Rufaro this season did nothing to heal Bosso’s wounds as the nine-time Zimbabwean champions were denied victory by a Partson Jaure late equaliser right at the death. The two sides’ coaches were clear ahead of the tie that history will not play a part in this match and the team that will apply itself well will carry the day. “We do no need to read much into the fact that we have been dominating Highlanders in the past because that is when you can be shocked,” DeMbare’s Kalisto Pasuwa said. “We need the right attitude going into this match. “The players should be motivated on their own and not wait for anyone to try lifting up their spirits because this is a new game, so the past will not count,” Pasuwa said. Pasuwa also remains adamant his charges are still able to defend the league title in a season they are yet to pick a single point from the southern region — losing to Hwange and How Mine and are still to visit Chicken Inn. “We are still in the race for the title and the players are fully aware of what is expected of them, nobody has won the title although it’s clear Highlanders have the advantage,” Pasuwa conceded. Kaindu was equally upbeat but would not lose his ever-cautious approach. “We do not dwell on history, we are a forward-thinking people who only focus on the present and what the future has in store for us. “We know the rivalry between these two teams and are very much aware that there is so much at stake, but the better prepared team will obviously carry the day,” Kaindu said. “The tension that comes with this match has been our undoing in the past, but I am sure our guys are past that stage. “We have managed to win at places where no visitor had and jinxes are always meant to be broken,” added the Zambian. Both teams are likely to congest the midfield with five men apiece in a bid to win control of the engine room. Veteran Mthulisi Maphosa assisted by Simon Munawa, Peter Moyo, Masimba Mambare and Milton Ncube are likely to line up against DeMbare’s smash-and-grab masters Stephen Alimenda, Tawanda Muparati, Thomas Magorimbo, Russel Madamombe and the battle-hardened Murape Murape. Each team is likely to deploy one man in attack with Gabriel Nyoni leading Bosso while Simba Sithole should get the nod for the champions. But today, the DeMbare central defensive duo comes face-to-face with a red-hot Bosso strike force fronted by Nyoni, a marketing student at Nust, whose partnership with a revived Njabulo “Tshiki” Ncube has set the league alight in this title sprint. It remains to be seen whether Gift Bello and Partson Jaure will repel the deadly Bosso duo. SUNDAY MAIL
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 07:11:44 +0000
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