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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
DYNAMOS coach Callisto Pasuwa believes his side have begun reaping  “some huge rewards’’ from Zimbabwe’s fine run at the African Nations Championships with the Glamour Boys using the experience they gained from the tournament in their club duties.
The Warriors battled to a fourth place finish at the third CHAN tournament staged in South Africa from January 11 to February 1.

It was the first time that the Warriors had managed to go beyond the group stage of any continental tournament as Ian Gorowa and his men defied the odds that were stacked against them including a shoe-string Zifa operating budget that hampered some of their plans but went all the way to the third place play-off.

However, their bid to return home with at least a medal was dashed when they lost 1-0 to West African giants Nigeria.

Pasuwa was Gorowa’s assistant at the CHAN tournament were the three-time championship winning coach also got invaluable experience as he helped plot the downfalls of such teams like Burkina Faso and Mali.

But more importantly for Pasuwa and DeMbare is the fact that they had eight players in the Warriors’ 23-man squad that travelled to Cape Town who the coach said had already begun to use their CHAN experience to the benefit of the Harare giants.

Star defender Partson Jaure, tall goalkeeper George Chigova, vice-captain Tawanda Muparati, striker Simba Sithole and newboy Masimba Mambare starred for the Warriors in South Africa.

Big defender Oscar Machapa who played cameo roles, and the unused pair of new acquisition Themba  Ndlovu and left back Augustine Mbara were also part of the strong side, which Gorowa took with him to Cape Town.

The eight players are now expected to play a key role in Dynamos’ search for a fourth consecutive Premiership title and their bid to re-establish their status as a force on the Champions League arena.

Dynamos have terribly struggled in the continental game since 2010 when they last reached the group stage and this has often been attributed to the Glamour Boys’ notorious tendency of failing to tie up their players to long-term deals and having to rebuild their squad at the start of every year.

Pasuwa who this time did not lose a lot of players to other teams, yesterday acknowledged the impact, which the CHAN tournament has had on his players who had earlier spent three weeks of intensive training ahead of the competition that is reserved for those players who play in their domestic national leagues.

“There is no doubting that our pre-season preparations have been helped by playing in the CHAN competition and can only build from there now.

“There was little time when we returned from the competition but because our players were doing well in South Africa it has helped us a lot,’’ Pasuwa said. The Dynamos coach said he had observed that apart from being physically fit to plunge into the Champions League campaign, his players had gained some invaluable experience from playing in the CHAN group stages and later progressing to the knock-out phase.

“When you look closely at our Champions League matches against Mochudi Centre Chiefs (Botswana champions) you can see that being at the CHAN is helping us a lot in all aspects of our football.

“I have been taking to guys like George Chigova and Partson Jaure and I told them that they had set a certain standard for themselves by playing so well at CHAN and it is only through hard work, focus and discipline that they can maintain those levels.

“Of course there will be some bad days because that is part of football but I would want them to continue playing on the same level they showed in South Africa with Partson leading the defence line,’’ Pasuwa said.

Pasuwa also reckoned that the huge demands of the continental game which midfielder Mambare experienced at the CHAN tournament had also helped the former Motor Action and Highlanders man to ease into the new environment at Dynamos.

Mambare who joined Dynamos shortly before his departure for the CHAN tournament became an instant hero after scoring on his Glamour Boys debut in their 3-0 Champions League preliminary round, first leg triumph over Mochudi Centre Chiefs at the National Sports Stadium.

“I have always warned that it is not every new player who immediately settles at Dynamos but we can see that a player like Masimba has benefited from playing at the CHAN and maybe he would have to adjust to a few tactical changes but he is largely playing the same role he was playing for the national team.

“But overally we have seen that after CHAN most of these players now know that they have to be tough mentally and physically and we are now playing a more compact game, defending in numbers and building our attacks methodically’’.

Pasuwa is however, still worried that such players like former CAPs United and Ajax Cape Town winger Tafadzwa Rusike are still to gain full fitness to last the distance. Dynamos have very little time to fine tune before they return to the Champions League duties with a first round date against Democratic Republic of Congo outfit AS Vita.

Pasuwa is now hoping to take his charges to Mutare for a date against army side Buffaloes in a friendly where he could also give a run out to the players who did not see action in the two legs against Mochudi Centre Chiefs.