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MISSING IN ACTION . . . Christian Epoupa will be a notable absentee at the Dynamos awards reception tonight where he is among the favourites to get an accolade

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS forward Christian Joel Epoupa is set to miss the Glamour Boys’ end of season awards set for tonight as he has excused himself to visit his family back home in Cameroon for the Christmas holidays.

Epoupa is among front-runners for the club’s Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Year awards together with skipper Ocean Mushure following a scintillating debut season in Zimbabwe. DeMbare secretary-general Webster Marechera yesterday confirmed the Cameroonian hotshot, who is a target of some Absa Premiership clubs, left the country at the weekend and will head straight to South Africa for trials from Cameroon.

“Epoupa has gone back home for the holidays. He boarded the plane yesterday (Sunday). As you know we are off-season so we do not expect him back any time soon. Instead, what will happen is that, he will connect straight to South Africa for the trials on December 26,” said Marechera.

The 24-year-old striker has had a flying start to his career in Zimbabwe spiced with some classy goals which have catapulted him to attract interests as far afield as Belgium and Germany. Epoupa was a contender for the Premiership Golden Boot award, but his touch somehow deserted him later in the season and he finished a joint second on 12 goals, five behind top goalscorer Dominic Chungwa of CAPS United.

Still, the Cameroonian was one of the two DeMbare players who made it among the 11 Soccer Star of the Year finalists, with his captain Mushure. Dynamos performed beyond expectations this season after starting afresh with a bunch of unknown players. The duo of Epoupa and Mushure has undoubtedly been the driving force behind the Harare giants’ spirited campaign.

The club’s leadership in partnership with their sponsors BancABC decided they needed to reward the outstanding performers in at least five categories that include Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Loyal Player and The Most Improved Player.

Skipper Ocean Mushure said the players are excited by the club’s gesture. The Harare giants have not had player awards in the last four seasons and Mushure believes the recognition of the players will be a huge boost ahead of next season.

“I think this is a good gesture by the club because these guys need some form of motivation to keep them going. If some players can win the awards this year, this will definitely spur them to work even harder next season while the others will also be motivated to win the same awards next year.

“So we are all excited, considering that it has been a while since we last had player awards,” said Mushure. The defender is a favourite for the big award following his exploits in the just-ended Castle Lager Premiership season in which he also excelled in his new deployment as an attacking player.

His performances also made him a strong contender for the league’s best player award which was won by FC Platinum’s Rodwell Chinyengetere. Mushure, who was pushed into third place after another FC Platinum player Kelvin Moyo took the first runner-up position, felt he deserved more and could be in line for his consolation at the club awards.

He could also be in contention for the Players’ Player of the Year award. It could be a tough call because there were also a host of players who arrived unknown and ended up as household names among the DeMbare faithful and these include Tichaona Chipunza, Quality Kangadze, Emmanuel Mandiranga, Peace Makaha, Cleopas Kapupurika, goalkeeper Tonderai Mateyaunga and Epoupa.

However, the skipper said the best players should be awarded. Mushure said he was impressed by the spirit of team work demonstrated by his colleagues in their quest for the championship. Dynamos fought for honours until the last day and eventually finished second on the final log standings with 69 points, two behind champions FC Platinum.

The team defied the adverse predictions by cynics and transformed themselves from potential relegation candidates to championship contenders after their coach Lloyd Mutasa had assembled the squad through the unorthodox means of holding trials.

“These guys put in a lot of effort. We worked very hard as a team from the word go despite the negative things that were sometimes said about us. I also give credit to our coach, he has been there for us throughout. Sometimes things were hard, but he still talked to us and we trusted his word. He was a constant link with the executive and we also want to thank our leadership for their efforts. Now we have to focus on the next season. We are a big team and it’s been a while since we last won the championship,” said Mushure.