The ManicaPost
IF the late great musician Paul “Dr Love” Matavire was still around even him would have clearly seen that Dynamos Football Club are in big trouble. Trouble that actually runs deeper than the ocean — not their club captain Ocean Mushure – that even some of their rivals must be pitying them.
Even deepening is how they have sunk in the relegation matrix as they occupy the last slot for the drop – 15th position on the 18-team log. Phrased differently, they are battling demotion demons as they stare down the barrel. As it stands they are now one foot into the red zone, fallen on hard times. Fallen from grace to grass.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
The lion on the Dynamos crest is just not a ferocious feline anymore. It cannot roar at the moment. It has been reduced to just a mewing kitten. Not even a cub but a tail-waggling and yappy – not happy – puppy that just woofs awfully. As such, DeMbare cannot bark. They have no bite.
The troubled Harare giants cannot bark and, at least, intimidate opponents. No team, virtually, is afraid of Dynamos and the only frightening thing, in fact, is that they may get relegated! That even bottom-of-the-table Shabanie Mine have pilfered points from them over both legs just goes to show how patchy their season has been.
Even the numbers are not lying. DeMbare have not beaten any among the teams in the top half of the table, losing home and away to FC Platinum, Ngezi Platinum Stars, Highlanders and Harare City. They have lost the first legs to Triangle and CAPS United, against whom they still have outstanding games alongside Herentals and Black Rhinos.
In those 14 matches against the Top 9 sides, they have scored in only three and gone goalless in 11.
They have conceded a massive 20 goals in those games. Boasting only a paltry 20 strikes, the former champions have been breached 30 times in 28 matches so far in the league and have a negative goal difference of minus 10. So toothless in front of goal have Dynamos been that they have scored the least – a paltry 20, even worse off that the bottom three teams (Shabanie Mine, 23; Bulawayo City, 23; Mutare City Rovers,22).
Also, in the reverse fixtures of their remaining six games they won only two, drew another pair and lost as much; scoring four and conceding six.
Perhaps what they can draw cold comfort from is that five of those matches will be in Harare and will, therefore, technically be at home even as they will play against Herentals away. And that newboys Herentals, who held them 0-0 in the first leg, are 11 points clear of them puts DeMbare’s misery into proper perspective; where a clearer, bigger picture emerges!
There appears not any single dynamo at Dynamos at the moment. Nothing dynamic even.
The Soul of Seven Million supporters – to adulterate the title of the autobiography by former Glamour Boys captain Memory “Gwenzi” Mucherahowa – has been tainted! The Seven Million Dreams – again, to bastardise the title of Mwendamberi’s book – are turning into nightmares; to be inevitably shattered perhaps!
The grim prospect of relegation does not sound far-fetched right now. DeMbare are playing a dangerous game, one whose match result will be defeat if they stay on that pitch of perdition.
How DeMbare find themselves here is a story for a another day.
One of the avid followers of this choice column, Richard Mahuhushe Chauke, has raised an interesting point to ponder that many shall be keenly following how Dynamos’ struggle against relegation will pan out and how Zifa and the PSL would react in the worst possible scenario.
Expressed WhatsAppically (pardon the poetic licence), Dynamos may be removed from the group (Castle Lager Premiership) for violating a group rule – that of failing to stay competitive – while the likes of FC Platinum will stay on as the group admin!
Or to be more euphemistic, DeMbare may press the exit button of their own volition because they are no longer interested in continuing as a group member.
With the glamour that had come to define this insanely popular club over the decades going, gloom is following. Doom even. To replace the “glamour” watchword on their badge. Seeing red, the boys in blue are singing the blues.
If it is about football that you care let’s share the cheer because we are made for the game, mad about the game!
Dynamos’ remaining fixtures:
vs. Black Rhinos (home; drew 1-1 in the first leg)
vs. Herentals (away; drew 0-0 in the first leg)
vs. Triangle (home; lost 3-0 in the first leg)
vs. Mutare City Rovers (home; won 1-0 in the first leg)
vs. Nichrut (away; won 2-1 in the first leg)
vs. CAPS United (rescheduled, home; lost 1-0 in the first leg)
Feedback:
(Former Dynamos gaffer Lloyd) Mutasa is a good coach. He was expected to perform miracles while operating under a dysfunctional system of management. Some of DeMbare’s best players had left the club, leaving behind an average bunch who take pride in loyalty to the club than their right to remuneration as footballers. Things will never be the same again with Dynamos hiring and firing coaches instead of dealing with the illnesses devouring the club. – Richard Mahuhushe Chauke.
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