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Amini ruled out for Dynamos

Sport
CASTLE Lager Premiership football champions Dynamos will be without Qadr Amini against Flame Lily at Gwanzura Stadium tomorrow after the defender failed to recover from a groin injury.

CASTLE Lager Premiership football champions Dynamos will be without Qadr Amini against Flame Lily at Gwanzura Stadium tomorrow after the defender failed to recover from a groin injury. BY HENRY MHARA

The match had been in doubt after Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Andrew Langa requested it to be moved to a later date to avoid a counter-attraction to the All-Africa Games qualifier between the Mighty Warriors and Ghana which will be played at Rufaro Stadium the same day.

The Premier Soccer League, citing a huge fixture congestion, has, however, turned down Langa’s request, paving way for the match to go ahead as initially planned.

But Dynamos would no doubt have preferred the match to be moved to a later date to give time to some of their injured players to recover, the latest being Amini.

The left-winger limped out of the big Harare Derby against Caps United after pulling a hamstring.

Dynamos assistant coach Tonderai Ndiraya told NewsDay Sport yesterday that Amini, who played as cover to injured Ocean Mushure at left-back position, would miss tomorrow’s match because of the injury.

His absence would certainly give coach David Mandigora a selection headache since Mushure is also down after picking a knock on Friday last week and has been ruled out of tomorrow’s match.

“It’s unfortunate that all our left sided players are out. We will see how we will go about it, how we will juggle the players around,” Ndiraya said.

“We have Augustine Mbara who has played left-back position before, so he might also play in that position. We have good defenders who can cover for him at the centre. It’s also unfortunate that we don’t have Carlos Rusere, who travelled to Cameroon with the Young Warriors. He was also going to be a natural replacement,” he said.

Flame Lily, winless in their first four matches, are going into the match on the back of a morale-shattering 3-0 loss to FC Platinum last Wednesday. Meanwhile, high-flying ZPC Kariba host Dongo at Gwanzura in a match the home side is expected to win.

The Kariba side, last year’s league runners-up, has made a strong start to the league, collecting seven points from a possible nine.

They are currently fifth on the log standings, with a game in hand after their match away to Chapungu at Ascot Stadium last week was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch.

ZPC Kariba, who will be without head coach Saul Chaminuka, away to Cameroon with the Young Warriors, seem to be firing from all cylinders, having scored a massive 10 goals in three matches.

Their biggest undoing though is their sieving defence which has leaked five goals, which could give Dongo hope that they can get something out of this match.

Dongo has three defeats and one draw under their belt and are already involved in the relegation scrap this early.