After the most anticipated Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match produced one of the best clashes so far this term, with Dynamos beating Caps United 1-0, Newsday Sport has reason to look at some of the key aspects of Saturday’s Rufaro Stadium excitement.
Five key elements emerge.
Intensity The game started of at an electric pace, as was expected, with Caps United taking the initiative while Dynamos tried to take the sting out of their opponents by slowing things down.
It was clear the plan for Caps United was to ambush their rivals and play attacking football of some demonic intensity, yet they squandered two early chances they made out of that electric start when Leonard Fiyado’s header bounced on top of the crossbar after some good work on the left by Rahman Kutsanzira.
A Shingi Kaondera drive was punched to safety by Dynamos goalkeeper George Chigova. DeMbare, once settled increased their tempo, matched Caps with Denver Mukamba and Cliff Sekete causing all sorts of problems for the Caps United defence which featured a reinvented midfielder Edmore Chafungamoyo.
The match had started off at a dizzying pace and it was unbelievable it never slackened to the end. Shingi Kawondera.
A lot was expected from the former Warriors attacker and he delivered as much, but he did not score.
He got close with the first chance of the match when he cut inside and unleashed a power-packed shot which George fisted away, much to the relief of Dynamos fans and to the delight of Caps United fans, optimistic of finally ending the victory drought over Dynamos.
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Apart from that, Kawondera continued to torment the Dynamos defence with Milton Makopa, at the midfield base of the champions’ midfield, enduring a torrid afternoon.
Kawondera was so awesome that even when he was in trouble, he always found a way out.
He showed he was just a different act from everybody else, always playing the ball on the floor and distributing his passes with amazing precision.
All the fuss about him was not undue. Patson Jaure The reason that Caps created fewer chances than they would have wanted was the Dynamos centre-back Patson Jaure. Dynamos coach Kalisto Pasuwa knew very well about the Rahman Kutsanzira effect on Caps United’s left side.
He surprised many by dropping David Kutyauripo to the bench and deploying Thomas Magorimbo into the right-back position trying to combat the slippery Caps United winger, but then he knew that alone would not be enough, and deplored Jaure to monitor the situation all the times to help out his teammate.
Kutsanzira had it all his way with Magorimbo, but not with Jaure.
The defender always watched the ball and never got fooled by Kutsanzira’s fancy footwork. Jaure thwarted many Caps United raids and was always in the right position at the right time.
He thrilled his fans each time he robbed Caps of a chance. Spectators With this match being the soundtrack of the week, the crowd attendance was never going to disappoint.
The two sets of rival fans served a top-notch performance, as they chanted and danced to inspire their teams to glory.
As early as 12pm queues had already formed outside the stadium. The City of Harare just had a football buzz about it.
The match had to be delayed by 30 minutes to allow fans, who were still queueing outside, entry into the stadium.
Denver Mukamba emerged from the dressing room after all of his teammates and the crowd erupted at the sight of the lanky attacker in Dynamos’ blue and white.
And when he acknowledged the crowd, the sense of excitement further increased.
Just like Mukamba had thrilled his fans by merely appearing, so did Caps United goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda, who prior to Sunday, had been a major doubt owing to a head injury.
“Zikeeper” was the last to emerge from the dressing room with a scrum cap in the Petr Czech-style — the United fans literally detonated.
It was yet another crazy contest among the fans with Dynamos supporters numbering almost four times as many, yet when Caps had possession it sounded like they were in the majority. Gunners effect Both clubs paraded their latest acquisitions from Gunners in Leonard Fiyado for Caps and Cliff Sekete for Dynamos.
Their former boss Cuthbert Chitima, who sanctioned their moves to the two Harare giants, watched from the stands as his former employees tried to have the final say in the biggest match of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League.
Both were impressive, but Sekete stood out above his former teammate Fiyado, who hit the crossbar early into the match, playing as the target man for the “Green Machine”.
Sekete proved a handful for Caps, always doing the unexpected and quite tough to disposses.
After sharing out his stars between the two giants, Chitima watched with keen interest and must have been impressed with what his products exhibited.
Dynamos had George Chigova, another former Gunners player, while Caps United kept Hardlife Zirekwi on the bench.
