For the Glamour Boys, this was their finest hour

it beyond the second round after a 0-4 aggregate mauling at the hands of Manning Rangers of South Africa while Congolese giants AS Vita were at the receiving end of a 1-4 thumping in Nigeria by Eagle Cement in the very stadium where these Glamour Boys would go and win.

Victories in Lilongwe, where they beat Telecom Wanderers 2-1 in Maputo, where they beat Ferroviario Maputo 1-0 after the Mozambican giants had come here and pinched a draw in the first leg and in Nigeria where they beat Eagle Cement 1-0 showed these Glamour Boys were as good on the road as they were at home.

Having done all the hard work in a group that featured the Nigeria, Ghanaian and Tunisian champions, with only a 0-1 loss in Tunisia, the sole defeat to their impressive campaign, Sunday Chidzambwa and his men laid the blue carpet for an outdoor party in their last final group game against Hearts of Oak ,where they only needed to avoid defeat by a twogoal margin to make the final.

And, amid scenes of delirium inside the giant stadium, the 0-1 loss they suffered that night could not stop their rolling train from crashing its way into the final of the Champions League on an historic night for Zimbabwean football. Twenty years later, images from that night remain fresh in the minds of those who had the privilege to get a front-row seat to the events ,which for these Glamour Boys and millions of their fans, represented their finest hour. Time, indeed, flies. As another CAF Champions League campaign gets underway this weekend, with FC Platinum having duly earned the rights to represent this country after they made a mockery of the history books by becoming the first club from outside Harare and Bulawayo to be crowned domestic kings, it’s hard to imagine 20 years have passed since DeMbare touched the heavens.

“We went through a lot to reach the 1998 CAF Champions League final,’’ Memory Mucherahowa, who captained the team, said in his autobiography, ‘’Soul Of Seven Million Dreams.’’

“In the money-spinning league, we were in the same group as Ghana’s Hearts of Oak, Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel and Eagle Cement of Nigeria. Though we were tied on 10 points with Hearts of Oak of Ghana, we went through to the final because we had a plus three goal difference. Of the six games we played, we won three, drew one and lost two and scored six goals.

“Because of our watertight defence, we only conceded three goals. I always believed that the only person who could take Dynamos FC to the top is Sunday Chidzambwa and his firing in 1991 was wrong. In my view, Sunday is the greatest coach to have emerged from Zimbabwe.

“He had many formations which mesmerised the opposition and (he) also possessed an eye for talent. Once Sunday Chidzambwa agreed to return to Dynamos as the team’s head coach during the 1993 off-season, I had no doubt in my mind that glory days were beckoning.

“He is the one who turned me into an anchorman. Previously, I used to play behind Max Makanza, the number nine.

“He made stars out of ordinary players. He had a passionate love for the club. Blue DeMbare blood flowed through his veins