UNDER-FIRE Dynamos coach Kalisto Pasuwa will not be relieved of his duties at the Premier Soccer League champions despite two successive defeats and will be in charge of this Sunday’s away tie to Shabanie Mine at Maglas in Zvishavane, club secretary Webster Chikengezha says.
TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Last season, Dynamos — perennial slow starters due to their almost annual participation in the Caf Champions League — lost four games from 30 matches, but have lost three in six matches to ZPC Kariba, Chapungu and Buffaloes, by identical 1-0 scorelines.
This time around, the problems go beyond the usual slow start — Pasuwa and his boss Keni Mubaiwa are reportedly not in good books.
Chikengezha said yesterday they still have faith in Pasuwa and have no intention to fire him.
Reports this week had suggested the Dynamos executive would hold a crisis meeting for an inquest into team’s sluggish start to their defence of the championship this season with Pasuwa facing the axe.
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Former Monomotapa and Warriors coach Norman Mapeza had been reported to have been lined up to replace Pasuwa whose side has been shocked 1-0 by Chapungu and Buffaloes in the last two league matches.
However, Chikengezha said yesterday there were no plans to fire Pasuwa and that the reports that Mapeza was set to come in as replacement for him were unfounded.
“As secretary-general of the club, I am surprised that there could be a meeting to fire the coach which I don’t know. I am surprised to see all this in the newspapers. There are no plans to fire the coach nor are there plans to bring in Norman Mapeza as coach.
“All this is not true. We have faith in Pasuwa and when we meet it will be just a routine meeting to review the situation. This is the norm with all the sixteen clubs in the league. They always meet after every match for reviews,” explained Chikengezha.
The defeat to Buffaloes at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, was their third league defeat in six matches and the second straight loss following another reverse to premiership new boys Chapungu in midweek last week.
That defeat has left the champions in eighth place on the league table with nine points, three behind joint leaders Highlanders and ZPC Kariba.
The hard-to-please Dynamos supporters expressed their frustration at the team’s performance when they threw missiles at board chairman Bernard Marriot at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday as he tried to calm them following the defeat to Buffaloes.
The supporters also appear to have grown impatient with Pasuwa despite having led the team to three successive league titles.
Dynamos make the trip Maglas to face Shabanie Mine this Sunday hoping to recover from the defeat in the previous two matches.
Marriot supports Pasuwa’s stay while Mubaiwa is said to be for the coach’s immediate ouster.
David Mandigora, the club’s former coach and now vice-chairman, is reportedly angling for a return to the technical bench, as is Sunday Chidzambwa, who is looking for a job after leaving South Africa’s Black Leopards last year.
The presence of the two — Mandigora and Chidzambwa – makes it highly unlikely that Mapeza can ever be accepted into the often volatile Dynamos family.
And this is the first time in years that Mubaiwa is really calling the shots, as in the past, the all powerful Dynamos Board of Directors would simply fire the chairman and appoint a new one, who would them bring in his own team.
Mubaiwa was deputy to Farai Munetsi, who fell out of favour with the club’s founding fathers with his plans to float Dynamos.