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Dynamos, FC Platinum battle in Uhuru finale

Sport
THE first serious silverware for this year is up for grabs this afternoon when Dynamos and FC Platinum do battle, once again, in the Independence Trophy final at the National Sports Stadium.

THE first serious silverware for this year is up for grabs this afternoon when Dynamos and FC Platinum do battle, once again, in the Independence Trophy final at the National Sports Stadium.

BY HENRY MHARA

This is the end product of the semi-finals that started on Wednesday, which saw Dynamos beat ZPC Kariba 2-0 at Rufaro Stadium, while Platinum edged Caps United 6-5 on penalties at Mandava Stadium after the match had ended 0-0 after regulation time.

Caps United and ZPC Kariba will face off in the third place play-off match at White City Stadium in Bulawayo this afternoon.

Over the years, clubs have used the Independence Trophy to give their fringe players a run, but for FC Platinum and particularly Norman Mapeza, the tournament presents an opportunity to restore confidence in the Pure Platinum family after a mixed start to the year.

The two teams go into the match on the back of contrasting fortunes in the league and will certainly approach it differently.

FC Platinum and Mapeza in particular, are coming into the match under increasing pressure after a disastrous start to the season.

One win, two defeats and a draw in the league sandwich a 5-2 aggregate loss to Tanzanian side Young Africans in the Caf Confederation Cup for the former Warriors coach. A section of FC Platinum fans waved placards in support of Mapeza in the match against Caps, but he has been in this business for a long time now and is one man who knows football fans are a fickle lot.

“People should not focus much on our league form because this is a different match, a different ball altogether which we will approach differently,” Mapeza told NewsDay Sport yesterday.

“We will give the match the respect it deserves. It’s a day to celebrate our Independence and to celebrate those who died to liberate us so it has a lot of significance. It’s going to be a tough match, but we are in this business to win so we playing to win the match.”

The former Warriors coach, however, said the trio of Donald Ngoma, Walter Musona and Brian Muzondiwa did not travel to Harare because of injuries.

That aside, Mapeza will have one eye on Wednesday’s league match against Harare City at Rufaro Stadium and would not want to show all his cards.

Dynamos, on the other hand, are just smooth sailing.

After a productive pre-season jaunt where they won the Bob91 Super Cup and also qualified for ZNA Charity Shield final — both achievements at Caps United’s expense — they appear to be on a roll in the league after recording four victories and a draw in their opening five matches of the new season.

Coach David Mandigora seems to have, for now, endeared himself well with the usually hard-to-please Dynamos fans. With the four clubs who participated in the competition, who have reportedly not yet received their prize moneys from last year’s edition, the cup is turning out to be a national service to provide free entertainment for the day set aside to celebrate the country’s Independence.

The two teams have dominated this Cup in recent times, with FC Platinum winning the competition in 2012 and last season while Dynamos were winners in 2013.

FC Platinum thus would be gunning for their third Independence Trophy in four years whereas Dynamos has won the competition a record seven times and have lost in five finals before.