It’s not inside

By The Standard | Sep. 20, 2017 | 3 Min read

FOR the first time this season, Harare giants Dynamos will experience the joy of being at the top of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League table barring any miracle as they visit Chapungu at Ascot Stadium tomorrow to finish off a match they started on June 18.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

Since they last won the league championship under Kalisto Pasuwa in 2014, the Glamour Boys have struggled to reproduce the form that saw them clinching four successive championships.

After finishing in second place under Tonderai Ndiraya in 2015, Dynamos were last term a caricature of the team that has dominated the local football scene after managing a distant fifth position, following a disastrous experiment with Portuguese coach Paulo Gorge Silva.

Although Lloyd Mutasa eventually took over from the Portuguese, it was a case of too little too late as Caps United went on to win the coveted title with Dynamos barely posing any threat.

They never had a sniff of the top spot throughout the season.

But as they face off Chapungu in a re-arranged Premiership match, they have been presented with a perfect opportunity to lead the table for the first time this season.

A win tomorrow looks a routine one and they should finally climb to the top where the Dynamos faithful believe they belong. The Glamour Boys had endured watching the leadership changing hands among Ngezi Platinum, FC Platinum, Chicken Inn and army side Black Rhinos.

Keep Reading

Although they picked up form after a sluggish start to the campaign, they had a backlog which they had to clear, something that has been militating against their push to claim top position.

Tomorrow, they go into the match with a 4-0 advantage and if they can manage to maintain their lead, it would lift them to the summit of the table with 52 points from 25 matches, one ahead of other title challengers Chicken Inn, FC Platinum and two ahead of Ngezi Platinum.

How long the Glamour Boys will stay there is a question for another day. But with the league programme suspended to accommodate the Chibuku Super Cup which rolls into life at the weekend, they could be there for some weeks.

Thanks to a ruling by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) which ordered the resumption of the match which had been abandoned in the 56th minute, following a bizarre incident in which a goalpost collapsed.

The players who featured in that ill-fated match, according to the PSL, will play in tomorrow’s match, thus paving the way for the return of chief striker and PSL leading goal scorer, Cameroonian import Christian Ntouba Epoupa.

Epoupa, who missed the Harare derby on Sunday after he was red-carded during the tempestuous league match against bitter rivals Highlanders in the previous match, has been serving his suspension, but now he will play a part.

Mutasa said after the Harare derby: “The title is still in our hands. If we win our remaining games, I am sure we will be in a better position come end of the season. We have to get over it. We have a game on Thursday, so it’s important we focus on that now.”