It’s a match between two teams which have failed to mount a serious title challenge in recent years, but it remains the biggest fixture on the local football calendar.
Hosts Dynamos, who have had an underwhelming season after showing a lot of promise in the season, have struggled against their biggest rival for the past five years.
The Harare giants have managed two draws in the last six league encounters while they have lost four times and are yet to beat Bosso since 2017.
Even that win five years ago was through the board room after Dynamos were awarded a match, which was abandoned due to crowd trouble with the teams level, on a 3-0 scoreline.
Otherwise Dynamos will be chasing their first victory over Highlanders in open play since June 2015.
Interestingly, Bosso ended a 10-year winless run in the league against Dembare and it appears it now Highlanders’ turn to dominate their rival.
At the moment Highlanders are oozing confidence having not lost a match in Harare against Dembare in seven years.
The only smear on this roller-coaster tie is that it has always been marred by crowd trouble and violent clashes between the two sets of fans more often than not.
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And the Highlanders coach Baltemar Brito, only in his first season in Zimbabwe already understands the fragility around this match.
“This is a game between the two biggest cities of the country,” Brito told journalists ahead of the big match.
“It’s a game between two different teams with different DNA.
“Right now they have something in common which is Sakunda.
“We hope fans will thank Kuda Tagwirei by showing good behaviour and we want to see families supporting their teams and at the end of the day we want Highlanders to win.”
But ultimately Highlanders are aiming for nothing short of three points in their quest to cling on to fourth place or achieve an even better placing.
“We have watched some Dynamos’ games and everyone knows that Dynamos are a good team,” he said.
“They are a team with a victory DNA with mature players but it’s not like they are an unbeatable side; so we go there with our strength, confidence and we go there aiming for victory.
“We have told the players not to be under pressure and not to be captured by the emotions of the fans.
“Dynamos need to worry about us because in the second half of the season, only one team (FC Platinum) has collected more points than us. They might be strong but we also are.”
Highlanders are without four key players, Ariel Sibanda, Nqobizitha Masuku, Devine Mhindirira and Mbongeni Ndlovu.
In the absence of Mhindirira and Masuku in the centre, Brito has able replacements in Darlington Mukuli, Adrian Silla and Muziwakhe Dlamini.
Dynamos go into this afternoon’s fixture in third place after Chicken Inn overcame a battling CAPS United into second.
Questions remain on what went wrong in DeMbare’s campaign this season as they had strong financial backing from Sakunda Holding and appeared to be cruising while at one point they were six points above champions elect FC Platinum.
In the past month and a half Dynamos have imposed a blackout on media ahead of matches, but it has not helped their cause as they have won only two of their last five matches including two defeats and one draw.
A defeat today will deal a major blow to the team’s ambition to finish second with just two match days remaining before the season ends while coach Tonderai Ndiraya is increasingly under pressure to keep his job.
