Highlanders face Dynamos in a potentially explosive Independence Trophy final on Monday at the National Sports Stadium, hoping to erase the bitter memories of last year when the Bulawayo football giants were sent to the cleaners in the final of the same competition.
Guthrie Zhokinyi and Cuthbert Malajila’s unanswered strikes deflated Bosso the last time around and they have already lost to DeMbare this year when they went down to a Denver Mukamba wonder goal in the Venture for Victory Cup.
Dynamos booked their place into the final of the competition, better known as the Uhuru Cup, after beating Gunners on Saturday with lanky forward Rodrick Mutuma finding the all-important goal while Highlanders laboured to a 4–2 penalty shoot-out win over Motor Action on the same day.
Bosso, on the other hand, will be looking for their first silverware since they won the league championship four years ago.
Highlanders captain Gilbert Banda on Sunday rallied his troops to come out and break the five-year Dynamos jinx.
He said revenge would be uppermost in mind when his troops take to the field. “There’s no doubt that they have been dominating us in recent years, but everything has to come to an end,” said the confident Banda.
“Tomorrow (Monday)’s game is a different game altogether. We will play our normal game, enjoy ourselves and hope to win,” added the dreadlocked defender.
Banda said pressure would be on Dynamos who would try to prove to their demanding supporters that their success in the last two games was not a fluke.
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“Dynamos will be playing in front of their supporters and after their wins over Gunners and FC Platinum they will try hard to beat us, that alone should put them under pressure. As from our side, there is no pressure at all because we will be playing our normal game and try to win. Of course, they beat us in our last encounter, but there is always room for improvement and we are very confident that this will be our time to beat them,” added Banda.
Dynamos vice-captain George Magariro conceded Monday’s match would be tough but still believed his team would prevail.
“It’s a cup final so we expect a tough match. Highlanders will naturally come at us, but we are mentally prepared for them,” said Magariro. “Our wins against FC Platinum and Gunners have restored our confidence.”
For the second game in a row, DeMbare will be without first-choice left-back Thomas Magorimbo due to injury but the return into the team of the Young Warriors quartet of Mukamba, Archford Gutu, Devon Chafa and Timire Mamvura will give coach Lloyd Mutasa more options.
The players arrived on Saturday night from their All-Africa Games second round, first leg qualifier against Botswana.
