Mutasa eyes Uhuru Cup Lloyd Mutasa
 Lloyd Mutasae

Lloyd Mutasae

Sports Reporters
AFTER a rocky start to his Premiership campaign, Lloyd Mutasa wants to win the Independence Cup tomorrow to give his FC Platinum players a huge boost ahead of the resumption of their league campaign at the weekend.Mutasa takes on Dynamos, the club that gave him a platform to become a big star during his playing career, and which then kicked him out when their decision to hire him as coach, three years ago, didn’t yield instant dividends despite a promising start.

DeMbare are still under the guidance of Callisto Pasuwa, who took over the baton from Mutasa, and has won three straight league titles.

Mutasa believes winning the Independence Cup, at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow, could be key for his team that needs an inspiration after two poor games in the league.

“Cup finals are always closely contested and at the same time, as an institution, we would want to win the trophy,” said Mutasa.

“We also hope it will be turning point for us, winning the trophy, and we have another equally important game on Monday. We should be able to field the best team in the Cup game as well as the league game and we believe all the matches on the calendar are important.”

Mutasa conceded that there was bound to be pressure on his coaching team after their poor start to the season.

“Football is always a pressure game but considering the work we have to put in there is no need to panic as we have assembled a really strong team,” said Mutasa.
“The response from the team, despite the poor start, is humbling. I am impressed by the way the players are executing their duties and it is only a question of time before we start posting good results.”

The former Dynamos coach said facing old team isn’t anything special.

“It is not about us meeting Pasuwa or meeting Dynamos players but it is about us eyeing the Independence Trophy,” said Mutasa who expects big forward Njabulo Ncube to shake on a knock he received at training yesterday.

“Our defeat  (to Hwange) is now water under the bridge though I would like to admit that it was a wake-up call to my players.  There is no need to panic because it’s football.”
Mutasa’s son Wisdom and Walter Musona have seen very little action so far since their move to FC Platinum.

But Gift Bello has featured prominently and now returns to face the club he dumped after the miners offered him a better package.

Dynamos skipper Murape Murape says their mission is to sweep all the silverware on offer this season and revealed that his charges were desperate to win the Independence Cup tomorrow. DeMbare have already won the Bob90 Super Cup after beating Highlanders and Murape yesterday said they wanted more trophies in their cabinet.

“This final will give us another chance to add another trophy into our cabinet,” said Murape. “We need to get back to winning ways. After losing, you just want to play another game and forget about the disappointing result.

“Obviously, a team like Platinum would want to beat Dynamos and prove a point. It is an important game and being Independence Day there would be many people at the stadium to watch the game and we want to do well.

“They are under pressure to win as results haven’t been going their way. But we have our ambitions and we remain focused. We have some of our players now at Platinum but we will not read much into that.”

Harare City will meet Highlanders in a third-place play-off.

Yesterday, gaffer Bigboy Mawiwi said it would be a hectic programme for his men as they have another date against ZPC Kariba at Gwanzura on Easter Monday.

“The games are giving us a bit of headache as Monday we would be playing here after traveling,” said Mawiwi.  But we have 35 players registered and that should come as some relief.

“Maybe these games would be the turning point for us especially if we do well in both matches. Last year we started with a win then lost then drew. But the most important task is to win more games than we did last season. We are still within striking distance.”

Mawiwi will miss Nathan Ziwini and Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe through injuries.

“When we played CAPS United we were outstanding but made some mistakes coming from the wingbacks so that is one area we are going to rectify and we have made some changes with Tongai Chiworeso now coming in for injured Munyaradzi,” he said.

Fixtures

Tomorrow
Independence third-place play-off:) Highlanders v Harare City (Barbourfields).
Independence Trophy final: Dynamos v FC Platinum (National Sports Stadium).

Easter Sunday:

Hwange v Triangle United (Colliery), Shabanie Mine v Black Rhinos (Maglas), Caps United v Buffaloes (Gwanzura 1500hrsSS), Chapungu  v How Mine (Ascot).

Easter Monday:

Chicken Inn v FC Platinum (Luveve), Chiredzi v Highlanders (Chishamiso ), Bantu Rovers v Dynamos (Barbourfields), ZPC Kariba  v Harare City (Gwanzura 1500hrsSS).

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