Mutasa hails Buildcon contest
DYNAMOS coach Lloyd Mutasa says the friendly game against visiting Zambian outfit Buildcon at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow is a perfect way to round off an eventful pre-season campaign as the Glamour Boys hope to carry their winning mentality into the league which kicks off next week.
The six weeks that DeMbare had been preparing for the new season have had highs and lows, but nothing is more encouraging than the success by the team’s youth brigade that conquered both CAPS United and Highlanders to lift the ZNA Charities cup.
And with the season only a week away, Mutasa believes they needed some different kind of opposition to gauge their readiness for the challenges of the new marathon.
“These are the kind of rehearsals to our long-term plans.
“We want to win the league and represent the country, so playing these teams is good for the institution.
“With a week to go, you would want to make sure that every player has got the chance to play and I think this is the right opportunity to give some of the players who have not been training as well.
“I am sure we are going to blend those who were playing with the senior players to see how it goes,” said Mutasa.
The former midfielder, who has been using a predominantly second-string side in the pre-season matches, is keen for a stage against a big opposition that would put his side to test.
He said they are hoping to find that challenge in Buildcon, a wealthy Zambian side that has stars tapped from different parts of Africa.
Buildcon also have four Zimbabwean players - ex-DeMbare men Devon Chafa, Partson Jaure and goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva.
Mutasa said although Buildcon are still new on the scene, they hope to tap from the wealthy of experience from their players drawn from as far afield as Nigeria, Congo, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda.
“They have got a European coach, they have got an array of stars coming from different countries and I am sure they have experience within their ranks.
“I am sure it’s the kind of sparring that we envy to have before we kick off the season.
“I think an international match of this type at this point will be okay with us because we would want to play an opposition that we don’t know and that doesn’t know us either.
“It will be a real eye-opener of how we have progressed during this pre-season period. We feel we have some players who have not played much of these practice games.
“Of course, we have played some other games, with the first one against Buffaloes, but of late you would see that some of our senior players have not featured.
“Probably what we had wanted from now on is to see each player play at least 60 minutes before the start of the season,” said Mutasa.
The Harare giants yesterday had another practice game against ZRP Morris and Mutasa believes his players are getting into good shape.
Defender Peace Makaha, who has been nursing an ankle injury for most of the pre-season, has since recovered, but would need at least two weeks of monitoring before he joins the rest of the squad in full training.
“Overall, I think we are in the right track, I think we are improving from where we left off last year.
“You can see the desire in the young boys that we have to claim their place and how the senior players are working hard to maintain their positions.
“The competition is always good. That is why I felt we needed another high profile game to test ourselves,” said Mutasa.
Buildcon coach Arena Gugliermo, whose side has played practice matches against Ngezi Platinum Stars, Herentals, Black Rhinos and Yadah, also wants a duel against the Glamour Boys.
“The game against Dynamos am sure will give us the same challenge that we got from Ngezi Platinum when we arrived here. This is a tough game, strong game, with strong players, a club with history.
“Even before this game, you can feel it’s not the same.
“It’s different to play Dynamos than any other team. So it’s nice as well because we have more than 20 new players,’’ said Gugliermo.