So Who Will Be Champions?
For the second year running, we have gone into the final weekend of the Premiership race with the two leading teams tied on the same number of points.
Dynamos are the common denominator, they were there last year against Motor Action before losing the race on goal difference after the Mighty Bulls also won their final match, and they are there again this year in a duel against FC Platinum.

The only difference is that this year, Dynamos have the destiny of their championship battle in their hands, aided by a huge goal difference advantage, which means that FC platinum have to outscore them one in four for them to be crowned champions.
DeMbare are up against their bogey side Kiglon who have had a bearing in denying the Glamour Boys their date with destiny in the past two years by inflicting shock defeats, when it mattered most, and you get a feeling that - should the Harare giants fail to score in the first half - the pressure will be unbearable and something dramatic could happen.

FC Platinum are up against a Shooting Stars team that has shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, in a vain but courageous battle to avoid relegation, and held Motor Action to a goalless draw at Callies, beat Blue Ribbon and narrowly lost 0-1 to CAPS United in their last three league games.
But while, on a normal weekend, both Kiglon and Shooting Stars have the capacity to beat the opponents they face tomorrow, their failed missions to survive relegation has changed the game and will weigh down heavily on them in matches they are certain to lose.

Kiglon were an embarrassment, for all the bravery they had shown in their battle to avoid the chop, including losing only 1-2 at the Colliery when they took just 13 players there, when they played their first match, following confirmation of their relegation, against Zimbabwe Saints.
They were lifeless, as they slumped to a 0-3 defeat at home against a team that had also been relegated, and while the significance of the occasion tomorrow could help spark them into life, for the cause of the integrity of the game, it's hard to see them winning this one.

What remains the question is how far they can limit the damage likely to be inflicted by an opponent that has been on a high, since leaving Masvingo empty-handed and feeling aggrieved by the decision to force them to play a tough away match without Cuthbert Malajila and Washington Arubi, and coming out of the Colliery cursing all the referees for a disallowed effort that meant so much.
Shooting Stars would have been a good bet for a draw, or win, against FC Platinum if they still needed a win to survive but, with their Division One status now confirmed, it's hard to see where their inspiration to show us the wildness that helped them stay in the top-flight league for six years, will come from tomorrow.

What remains the question is how far they can limit the damage likely to be inflicted by an opponent that badly needs a lift, after the shattered dreams that littered Mandava on Sunday, following a crowning ceremony that went badly wrong after Dynamos inflicted a stunning defeat that turned the race on its head.
Both Kiglon and Shooting Stars have a duty to preserve the integrity of the game, and a Premiership they might want to return to in the future, and that is why they should give it their best shot, even in a losing cause, come tomorrow afternoon.

It's very likely that both the Wild Boys and Kiglon's coaches, and their best players, would leave come end of the season to remain part of the Premiership and they have a duty to conduct themselves in a way that will make them good candidates to join other teams should they decide to move.
Then, crucially, there is also the move that is being spearheaded by Kiglon and Shooting Stars, challenging their relegation this season in a year where Zifa acknowledged, by hiring foreign referees for the Mbada Diamonds Cup, that our match officials' conduct was not up to scratch.

Zimbabwe Saints have already fired the first shots, in an article carried by The Chronicle yesterday, saying they will challenge their relegation in court because, as Zifa confirmed in hiring the foreign referees, there were machinations at play in the local refereeing fraternity and poor Saints were victims because they did not have the cash to pay match officials.
Saints argue that their good run in the Mbada Diamonds Cup, where they reached the semi-final in a tournament where the match officials were well paid by the sponsors, was a good indicator of their true pedigree, in an environment not compromised by questionable officiating.

The relegated teams want all the 16 teams, who were part of the Premiership this season, to remain members of the elite league next year, with the four teams coming from Division One being embraced to bring the number to 20 for the championship next season.
Their argument is built on a technicality, boosted by Zifa's decision to hire foreign referees which endorsed the mother body's position that there were monumental flaws in the way the local refereeing family was handling itself and, since their work had an impact on who survives and who gets relegated, there has to be some form of relief for Saints, Kiglon, Shooting Stars and whoever will follow them today.

The three clubs argue that it's not a coincidence that the poorest teams in the Premiership - Saints, Kiglon and Shooting Stars - were the first to be relegated in a season poisoned by the allegations of graft that rocked the domestic refereeing family and led to the hiring of expatriate personnel.

Against a background where they are fighting for a new lease of life in the Premiership, albeit on a technicality, it is therefore important that Kiglon and Shooting Stars do not conduct themselves in shame in their final matches tomorrow but, rather, they come out of the duels with their heads held high and being teams worthy of sympathy.

Noone knows what will happen tomorrow but, given the way they played against their main rivals in the race, you get a feeling Dynamos got it right in games that mattered to deserve this title and, in a year they beat FC Platinum three times, without conceding a goal, they can be forgiven when they brag that they are the best.