KALISTO Pasuwa’s job appears to be safe, for now, despite his team failing to progress to the second round of the Caf Champions League.
HENRY MHARA
Dynamos lost 1-0 away to AS Vita of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday, to bow out of the competition on a 1-0 aggregate score.
The latest blip, the third time in a row Dynamos have failed to progress past this stage under Pasuwa, has seen a section of the club’s supporters calling for the coach to step aside.
However, the Dynamos hierarchy, which is believed to be divided on the issue, has come out publicly to assure the coach that his job is still secure.
“His position was never under threat,” said Dynamos secretary-general Webster Chikengezha yesterday.
“There are people who have been talking about it, but as the Dynamos executive we have never discussed that issue. There has never been a meeting where we discussed the coach’s position. In as much as we the executive and the supporters want results, it will not be proper for us to blame it on the coach alone when the results do not come. “We have to look for the problems that could have caused the defeat and try to correct them without necessarily firing the coach,” added Chikengezha.
The team only trained twice in the week of the match due to a player boycott over outstanding allowances and winning bonuses.
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Pasuwa himself thinks his team was just unfortunate not to progress to the next round where they were to meet Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa.
The gaffer and his troops arrived back home yesterday morning. “We lost it when we played here in Harare (in the first leg). We should have scored at least a goal; it was going to be easy for us.
But it’s part of the game. We went there and dominated everything and created a number of chances, but we could not convert them.
“That was the big difference from the match we played here and the one we played in the DRC. The penalty was harsh, but that is what happens when you play away and that is the reason I’m saying we should have scored goals in the first leg,” said Pasuwa.
“We also need time in terms of our preparations for these continental matches. We buy new players and they are not given enough time to gel with the players who are already here. We buy players today and in less than a month they are playing competitive matches.
“We have to take a closer look at our calendar because right now the other leagues are in their mid-season while we are in our off-season. That alone makes a big difference in terms of the players’ conditioning, but what can we do, that is the way it is.”
Midfielder Devon Chafa made his first appearance in the Sunday match since the expiry of his six-month ban by Fifa for testing positive to a banned substance. He was played in the unfamiliar right-back position, and Pasuwa had special praise for the player.
“Being his first game after his suspension, he played a blinder of a game. In the first leg we had problems on that right side, they used that channel to attack us so we decided to play Devon there and he did very well. It was very unfortunate that we could not get the result we wanted. All the players played very well, but at the end of the day it’s goals that count,” said Pasuwa.
