×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

DeMbare forced out of Rufaro

Sport
Castle Lager Premier Soccer League giants, Dynamos have been squeezed out of Rufaro Stadium for their clash against Hwange, which has been rescheduled to the National Sports Stadium at 7pm this evening.

Castle Lager Premier Soccer League giants, Dynamos have been squeezed out of Rufaro Stadium for their clash against Hwange, which has been rescheduled to the National Sports Stadium at 7pm this evening.

by sports reporter

Denver Mukamba
Denver Mukamba

The match had earlier been slated for Rufaro at 3pm in an arrangement where the clash would follow the Harare City-Shabanie Mine tie that was set for 1pm.

But Dynamos declined to go through with the arrangement preferring to play their match at 7pm, avoiding the prospect of sharing gate-takings with Harare City.

The evening match, however, could not be scheduled for Rufaro due to poor lighting at the Harare City Council-owned facility.

This forced DeMbare to return to the National Sports Stadium, which had been their home ground when Rufaro was shut down for renovations.

Yesterday, Dynamos coach, Lloyd Mutasa said he would have preferred to have the match played at Rufaro, but remained optimistic that they would still get both a good crowd and a positive result at the National Sports Stadium.

“Our fans were thrilled when we returned to Rufaro a couple of weeks ago. We have also played well in the three matches that we were involved in there such that we would have wanted the match against Hwange to be played there as well,” he said.

“Unfortunately, for this match we have to move and go back to the National Sports Stadium. The giant stadium had been a good hunting ground for us, so, we hope we can pick up from where we left the last time we were there. We are still optimistic that our fans will come in their numbers to support the team and we will still play good football and produce a positive result.”

DeMbare have been boosted by the return of midfield maestro, Denver Mukamba, who missed the last two matches due to suspension and illness.

Quality Kangadze has also given himself a chance of making it into the match day squad, having resumed full training on Friday.

“We are unlikely to have Christian Epoupa because of a groin injury. But we have been boosted by the return of Denver, and Quality has also been training. We will be able to select the team from an almost full complement of players even though we will miss our top striker,” Mutasa said.

He paid tribute to Hwange coach, Bigboy Mawiwi, who is on a mission to save Hwange from the chop.

“I have a lot of respect for Bigboy from the time we clashed in Division One and the Premier League. He has transformed Hwange into a scoring side. They scored seven goals in the last three matches where they collected six points and that is the mark of a good side. We know that the match against Hwange will be tough and we have to be at our best,” Mutasa said.

Mawiwi, who will be missing the services of the injured duo of Gilbert Zulu and Admire Banda, on the other hand, fears Dynamos will be tough to beat considering the momentum they have picked.

“Dynamos are on top of their game at the moment and when they are on such a run, they are very difficult to stop,” he said.

“It is going to be difficult for us to play under floodlights, we have not been exposed to that in a long time and the communication only came late. But we are taking it step by step and we will fight for everything in this match like we have done in the last few matches.”