DYNAMOS assistant coach Murape Murape (pictured) has issued a candid analysis of the club’s squad, saying that most of the current players are not the right material for the Harare football giants, but was quick to point out that they were not the worst ever team as some critics have suggested.
BY HENRY MHARA
The team has had a disastrous season so far and came under heavy criticism especially after their defeat to Highlanders on Sunday, who completed a double over the Glamour Boys for the first time since 2006, with critics saying this was probably the worst Dynamos team ever.
While the revered former midfielder, who is the club’s long-serving player in history having spent almost two decades as a player before assuming his current position, agrees that most of the current players do not deserve to be anywhere near the Dynamos dressing room, he believes there are other factors behind the team’s dreadful form this season.
He pointed to a bad pre-season and injuries to key players as the main reasons for the team’s poor (by their high standards) season this far, where they are currently fifth on the log standings, 12 points behind log leaders FC Platinum, with just seven matches to play.
“In terms of quality, we have to be honest enough and agree that we don’t have enough quality to challenge for honours. Some of them are not Dynamos material. Some don’t have a strong mentality, and that commitment that is needed at Dynamos. We have to be honest and all agree because that is the reality,” Murape said.
The 36-year-old, who joined the club ranks at the age of 14, was part of the special breed at Dynamos that reached the 1998 Caf Champions League final, playing alongside his current boss coach Lloyd Mutasa and Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa.
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“There are players who come here and believe everything will just happen for them easily. We have numbers, but how many of them can actually produce results for this team — players who are strong enough mentally and physically? To be a Dynamos player, you need to work hard, to be disciplined, committed and to sacrifice.
“Yes, we can lose games, but sometimes it’s the attitude that is wrong. Even if we lose we should be getting the applause from the supporters that ‘you have lost, but you gave it all,’ that is the spirit which is lacking. But there is nothing we can do, we have accepted the situation and we will work with what is there and try to get the results,” the 2007 Soccer Star of the Year said.
He said, unlike in the past, Dynamos no longer appeal to quality players, most of whom now opt to join rival teams where financial, rewards are better.
The club, reeling under a financial crisis, has in recent times been gazumped to the signatures of notably Archford Gutu, Abbas Amidu and Ronald Chitiyo by rivals Caps United and Harare City.
“All the good players in the land are opting to go to other teams, which are offering them more money and we are left to sign free agents. It’s now up to Dynamos (management) to look for ways to keep the club competitive on the market. In the current circumstances, I think we should revive our junior policy and build our team from there,” Murape reckons.
Turning on to the disastrous season where they find themselves entangled in as the results have just not come, Murape, whose technical team was roped in to save the season following a calamitous start to the campaign by fired Paulo Jorge Silva, believes the causes lies elsewhere.
“People tend to look at the result of the day, but they forget to look where we are coming from. This team did not have a proper pre-season and most of the things could have been rectified and addressed that time. Pre-season is the most important part of a season. That is when you plan and set your objectives for the whole campaign. When we came in, we could see that some of the players were not fully fit because of a poor pre-season, so we were always lagging behind other teams.
“Now we are trying to make the players fit at the same time trying to build a team that can produce results.”
DeMbare have lost several key players in the course of the season in defenders Augustine Mbara, who joined a South African side, while Elisha Muroiwa has been injured for some time now. Bad boy Sydney Linyama is AWOL.
“I think these players could have helped us in a way to get positive results. But these are some of the things that most of our stakeholders, especially our loving supporters, don’t see. All they want is a win, no matter the circumstances. They also need to look at the factors that are causing the team not to get positive results. As the technical team, we are happy with the progress that we have made. We took over when the team was in 15th position on the log, and we have moved to number 5, and that is progress. And considering all the problems that I have mentioned, I think we have actually done well.”
