Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE soccer giants Dynamos and Highlanders will get a chance to showcase their pedigrees when they face Botswana opponents Mochudi Centre Chiefs and Tafic in a four-team Supa Power tournament in Francistown on Saturday.

The country’s two biggest football institutions have been invited to take part in the competition that is run along the lines of South Africa’s traditional Carling Black Label showdown between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, which precedes each season.

Dynamos will meet Division One side Tafic in their first match in the morning before Bosso take on top-flight side Mochudi Centre Chiefs. The winners will then meet in the final later in the evening while the losers battle for third place.

Dynamos secretary-general Webster Marechera said they were looking at the one-day tourney as a window through which they could also market the Glamour Boys brand to their multitude of fans who are in Francistown and other cities and towns in Botswana. The games have already been sanctioned by the Premier Soccer League who have since postponed the two giants’ fixtures.

Dynamos were pencilled in to face How Mine away while Bosso were scheduled to date Tsholotsho. Club president Kenny Mubaiwa said they were looking to travel this morning with all their registered players, who each is set to get an appearance fee of P5 000 from the organisers.

“We are scheduled to leave tomorrow (today) by road. We are using our own bus but they are providing for our fuel as well as accommodation.

“We are carrying all our registered players with each player expected to get an appearance fee. There is no prize money for the club but each player will receive P5 000.

“What is also exciting about this tournament is that the players will be selected by sms (short message service), by the fans who will choose who plays in the two matches,” Mubaiwa said.

Mubaiwa said the tournament had been on the cards since April. The tourney has however, not been short of its problems with doubts often hanging over it especially given that both Dynamos and Highlanders insisting they would not make the road trip before they received their appearance fees for the games.

Mubaiwa just like Marechera is however, relishing the opportunity of showcasing the side they are rebuilding to their foreign-based fans.

“This is an opportunity for our fans to come and watch us. We have supporters in Plumtree, Botswana and even South Africa who can drive to watch us play. “We have been doing well in the league and this is an opportunity for the players to showcase the club outside the country,” Mubaiwa said.

The tournament which seeks to raise funds for the development of a sports academy in Mochudi has pegged the cheapest ticket at P60 while the VIP is going for P750. Once they receive the appearance fees DeMbare and Bosso will make a short convoy to Fransictown tomorrow morning.

And just like their Dynamos counterparts, Bosso insisted through their acting chairman Modern Ngwenya that they will only depart for Botswana tomorrow after they have received confirmation that the money has been deposited into their account or has been handed to their representatives in Francistown.

“All things being equal, we will leave tomorrow (today) but we will only leave after the money has been deposited into our account or our officials have collected it on our behalf. That’s is the agreement we have with the organisers.

“We don’t want a scenario where we get to a foreign land and we are stranded. It is just a security issue and everything is in the agreement which we signed,” he said.

Ngwenya said they want to paint Francistown black and white and create a good football atmosphere for their supporters. “There are many Zimbabweans in Botswana who support Highlanders. Some will come as far as Gaborone to watch the match and we are looking forward to a bumper crowd.

“We hope to paint the town black and white with a good family atmosphere. We are going through a bad patch in the league at the moment but we hope by the time we return from Botswana we will get it right,” Ngwenya said.

It also emerged that last night that tournament organiser Joy Setshedi was due to meet the Dynamos and Highlanders representatives in Plumtree this morning to seal the payment issues.

Meanwhile, DeMbare would have to make do without in-form skipper Ocean Mushure when they return from Botswana for domestic duties next week. The Warriors defender who has been providing the goals for Dynamos from an advanced midfield role has accumulated three yellow cards and would have to miss a game.

Mushure is one of six players who according to the Premier Soccer League would be suspended when the top-flight programme resumes this weekend.

The others are Harare City’s Takudzwa Chimwemwe, steady Black Rhinos centre back Sydney Linyama, veteran Kuda Musharu of How Mine, Shabanie Mine’s Admire Dzumbunu and Ransome Pavari of Bulawayo City.

The Premiership programme will resume with a double header show at Rufaro involving Yadah Stars against Chapungu at 1pm and Black Rhinos later hosting Chicken Inn.

Fixtures:

Saturday: Yadah v Chapungu (Rufaro, 1pm, SS), Black Rhinos v Chicken Inn (Rufaro, 3pm), Bulawayo City v Harare City (Barbourfields).

Sunday: CAPS United v Ngezi Platinum (Rufaro, 3pm, SS), Hwange v Bantu Rovers (Colliery), Triangle v FC Platinum (Gibo), Shabanie Mine v ZPC Kariba (Maglas).

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