Dynamos have been thrown a lifeline by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) after the disciplinary board decided to review their controversial Champions League match against MC Alger at the board’s meeting on April 19 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The good news came as Dynamos recorded their first Castle Lager Premiership victory after whacking moneybags FC Platinum 2-0 at Rufaro turning it into Super Wednesday.
DeMbare lost their two opening league matches against Kiglon and Motor Action.
The Glamour Boys were still smarting from their shock exit from the Champions League until Caf gave them another reason to believe that they could be back in contention in the African safari, as they would evaluate the match made in hell.
The continental football body announced the seven matches under dispute, which are going to be deliberated by the Caf disciplinary board.
The board will evaluate the MC Alger and Dynamos match despite the Harare side failing to file their protest in time.
The evaluation has been seen as a publicity stunt by Caf, who are battling to shed the tag that they favour teams from North Africa.
The board said the complaints which were going to be heard included one filed by Tunisia’s Club Africain’s for their first round match against Zamalek in Egypt, following their 4-2 win in Tunisia. Interestingly, Zamalek have also filed a counter protest against Club Africain following their abandoned match in Egypt in the second leg.
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Democratic Republic of Congo’s ASV Club have also filed a complaint regarding their first leg, first round match against Coton Sport (Cameroon). Coton Sport won the match 1-0 before winning the second leg 2-0.
Nigeria’s Kano Pillars have also filed a protest following their first round match against WAC Casablanca from Morocco, which ended in a nil-all draw. The Morroccan side won the first leg 2-0 at home.
Nigeria’s Enyimba have also filed a protest against Gabon’s US Bitam following their 2-0 loss in the first round match.
However, the interesting case is that between Dynamos and MC Alger which has no complainant but hogged the international media limelight for the wrong reasons after eight Dynamos players were yellow-carded in Algeria by Egyptian referee Fahim Omar.
DeMbare’s Archford Gutu and Guthrie Zhokinyi were also red-carded and the club ended up playing with nine players, which received bad publicity forcing Caf to act to protect their reputation and integrity by reviewing the match.
In the event that the Caf disciplinary board rules in favour of DeMbare, they will play their second round match against Grupo Desportivo Interclube on April 24 in Angola, while the return leg is slated for May 8.
Caf is also set to deliberate on several disputed matches in the Confederation Cup.
Angola’s AS Aviaçao have filed a protest against Sofapaka (Kenya) following their defeat while Mozambique’s Desportivo Maxaquene have also taken their case to Caf alleging unfair play after being knocked out by AS Adema (Madagascar).
Meanwhile, DeMbare recorded their first league victory of the season after going for 188 minutes of Premiership football without scoring a goal.
Martin Vengesayi grabbed the first goal for the Glamour Boys in the eighth minute while man-of-the-match captain Desmond Maringwa made it 2-0 in the 91st minute.
The goal by Vengesayi was a gift from Benjamin Marere’s back pass, which was meant for Zephaniah Ngodzo, but was intercepted by Rodrick Mutuma who released Vengesayi who then sliced the ball home.
Second-half substitute Patrick Khumbula had a good afternoon as his introduction in the 68th minute paid off.
Khumbula rounded off his marker in the 90th minute before releasing Maringwa, who fired the ball into an empty net beating Muranganwa Nengomasha in goals for FC Platinum.
The visitors had their scoring chances in the 10 and 14th minutes but Soccer Star of the Year Charles Sibanda and Menard Mupera took turns to fluff the chances that came their way.
