HOW Mine coach Kelvin Kaindu has saluted his Dynamos counterpart Lloyd Mutasa for building a formidable team with meagre resources, saying the Harare football giants’ gaffer should be applauded despite falling short in the championship race. BY HENRY MHARA
The Glamour Boys were pipped to the title by FC Platinum on the final day of the season, finishing the season on second position, just two points behind the Zvishavane-based side.
Kaindu was one of the few coaches who openly questioned DeMbare’s quality at the start of the season as the team struggled to find rhythm, describing the squad that Mutasa had assembled as the worst Dynamos ever.
But the Dynamos team, built from rejects and rookies, eventually found its feet and went on to launch a solid fight for the title.
Despite losing the title, Dynamos recorded the most wins and scored the most goals than all the other teams, including the champions.
Kaindu, while acknowledging that FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza deserves the plaudits that are going his way following the team’s success, believes Mutasa achieved what most coaches would have failed to do under the circumstances.
“Am I surprised that they finished second? Yes, I am,” Kaindu said. “They put up a good fight, and credit should go to them.
This season they didn’t have a team that everybody thought would fight for the championship. So my brother Mutasa there has done quite a good job. We hope that they stabilise and hopefully they try to push for the title next season. I’m happy for him, but congratulations to Mapeza and his team, I think they deserve it. Probably they have been the most consistent team in the league since I came to Zimbabwe. They have finished in the top four for sometime now, so congratulations to them.”
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He added: “It’s just unfortunate that Ngezi Platinum were also pushing and lost, same applies to Chicken Inn. At one time we were also there (in the championship race) midway through the season, but we dropped out.”
Dynamos had a difficult pre-season when the core of the team was dismantled after at least eight senior players deserted the club for greener pastures.
Brett Amidu, one of their stars from the previous season, was snapped up by FC Platinum, while Godknows Murwira and Dominic Mukandi chose to join Ngezi Platinum. Star goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva joined South African side Cape Town City while vice-captain Stephen Alimenda, Roderick Mutuma, Jacob Muzokomba and Sydney Linyama all left the club. The departures forced Mutasa to call for trials to rebuild the ragged team.
Rookies and little-knowns such as Quality Kangadze, Cleopas Kapupurika and Gift Saunyama, were drafted in from the lower divisions.
