The Sunday News
Phineas Mukwazo Langton Nyakwenda, in Harare
HIGHLANDERS’ caretaker coach Mark Mathe believes the fact that they have been chosen to take part in the Gushungo Victory Cup clash against old nemesis Dynamos was incentive enough for them to shed their bridesmaid tag.
“We are taking this game seriously and the fact that is part of the celebrations for our Honorable President RG Mugabe, is incentive enough for us to go for victory.
“Of course, we will start the game as underdogs especially pound for pound. The sequence has been that Dynamos play well and win against us; they play badly and they win again. As for us we have played well, dominated them but we have gone all the way to lose. Even when they are below par we have lost to them,’’ said Mathe.
“And today what we need is only mental strength to again play well but win this time around. We are out here to play for ourselves, for our fans, for the Highlanders pride.’’
On the decision by the organisers to brush aside their idea to junior players, Mathe said:
“We still have the junior players that we can feature, who meet the criteria. We are also not discarding our older, mature and experienced players. We only have to come up with the right combinations, by striking a balance (between the two set of players).
Bosso have not beaten DeMbare for eight years now and their fans and players must be wondering what they have to do to remedy the situation.
And this grand occasion at the National Sports Stadium could be the perfect chance for Bosso to appease their fans.
Winners will walk away with a trophy and $45 000 while the loser’s cheque is a cool $35 000.
The Dynamos fans, on the other hand, would want their team to continue with their superiority over their fiercest rivals.
However, DeMbare centre back and Soccer Star of the Year finalist Themba Ndlovu fears their rivals might use today’s clash to settle old scores.
“We have been the dominant team but history counts for nothing in these cup games. This is a new game altogether and Highlanders are also sensing this is their chance to break the jinx, so we have to be very careful,” said Ndlovu after DeMbare’s morning training session on Friday.
The league champions have shelved celebrations for their historic league title triumph as they are still targeting the Gushungo and Mbada Diamonds cups.
The desire to accumulate more gold medals is driving the DeMbare players, said Ndlovu who was last weekend rewarded for a solid season with a Soccer Star of the Year nomination.
“It was good to finally win a championship gold medal but in DeMbare’s vocabulary, the word enough does not exist, we are always pressured to win everything on offer.
“Individually, it would also be nice to get more medals starting with today’s Gushungo Cup and then possibly get another one in the Mbada Diamonds.
“I am happy to be at DeMbare, my teammates were fantastic, and it is because of them that I graced the Soccer Stars calendar for the first time in my career.
“The fans should come in their thousands, last week we did not have the opportunity to celebrate together because most of them did not come to the stadium because they doubted our chances of lifting the title.
“This match is a perfect opportunity to celebrate together, it would be nice to be doing so after adding the Gushungo Cup,” said Ndlovu.
DeMbare have already beaten Bosso in two major cup finals this season, 2-0 in the Bob 90 Super Cup in March and a 4-1 drubbing in the TM Challenge Cup in September.
The Glamour Boys also beat Tshilamoya 1-0 in both league meetings this year.
Indeed Mathe is under pressure to get a positive result to atone for a poor season which saw them finish 12 points behind the league champions. And the Highlanders’ mentor believes beating DeMbare has got more to do with his players’ mentality than input from the technical bench.
“We have been talking to the players; it’s all about their mental strength. We lose to Dynamos because of lack of mental strength,” he said.
Tournament Organizing Committee’s spokesperson Charles Mabika said his committee had lined a number of pre-match activities to spice up the day.
“To add glitter to the event, we will also have an appetising curtain-raiser encounter where a combined Zimbabwe/Mozambique National Youth Leaders Select side will clash with another combined Zimbabwe Music Legends/Zimbabwe Football Legends Select Side,” said Mabika.
“Fans would want to see if the likes of Sulu Chimbetu, Jah Prayzah, Tocky Vibes, Soul Jah Love, Alick Macheso, Pastor Charamba, Tuku and promoter Partson “Chipas’ Chimbodza can be as extravagant on the football pitch as they are on a musical stage.”
“We expect fireworks because this milestone event will pit two of Zimbabwean’s biggest teams which were picked on merit. This is the cup to celebrate President Mugabe’s election victory last year.
“An icing on the cake is that Dynamos would be celebrating their recent league success, while Highlanders, buoyed by their large following in the country will be out to show all and sundry that enough is enough. The two teams have promised to field their strongest sides, and apart from that this is an early Christams present for them courtesy of the Gushungo Cup.”
