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Paulo Jorge Silva

Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
PAULO Jorge Silva is hoping now that he has broken his duck, by recording his first victory in the Castle Lager Premiership, everything will start falling into shape at Dynamos with the Glamour Boys roaring into contention for the league title.

The Portuguese coach cleared the first of three hurdles — he needs to win three straight league matches or face the axe — as the Glamour Boys powered to a 2-1 victory over newboys Mutare City Rovers at Sakubva on Sunday.

It marked the first time that DeMbare have won in a competitive game under Silva and crucially, the country’s biggest and most successful team scored for the first time under the colourful Portuguese.

Silva made the big decision to drop Rodreck Mutuma to the bench after the striker had failed to justify his continued inclusion in the DeMbare XI, as he fired blanks, while the coach trusted rookie forward Kudzanayi Nyakasaka to lead his attack.

And the young striker justified his coach’s faith as he stroked home his team’s first goal, showing a lot of composure after running clear at goal, to drill the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Phillip Nhete for the opener that Silva had been dreaming of.

Mutuma then rose from the bench to grab the insurance goal, late in the game and kill the game as a contest, the significance of his goal being shown by the late strike by the hosts as the Glamour Boys grabbed the first set of full points in this championship race.

Silva showed a lot of emotions as he celebrated his team’s first win and goals, since he took over and the Portuguese gaffer will be hoping that this is the start of the good times for his men.

“I do not have any pressure. This is a good club. We play to win,” said Silva.

“I am looking forward to win the match against CAPS United. That is all I am looking forward to.

“I love football. It is my life.”

The Green Machine will certainly provide a reality check for Silva, but if he doesn’t know, it’s the kind of game where Dynamos heroes are made and if he wins at Rufaro on Sunday, it could transform him into a hero and there will be many, in the Glamour Boys camp, willing to forgive him for his previous failures and give him more time.

The Portuguese coach is sitting on a three-match ultimatum and the win in Mutare managed to buy him another week as DeMbare coach, but a victory in the Harare Derby could provide him with the ticket for a longer stay at the club irrespective of what happens in Hwange in their next match.

The fact that a win on Sunday will see DeMbare catching up with their bitter rivals CAPS United, on seven points, is another added incentive and could be what Silva has been praying for, in his dreams of a longer stay at the Glamour Boys, even if he loses at the Colliery.

A number of coaches have already applied for his job, but it appears that the Portuguese coach will not go down without a fight and if he can do it against the old enemy then a number of his mistakes will be forgotten as the Glamour Boys revel in the joy that comes with beating their bitter rivals.

“I am working hard for the team to win. I am giving 100 percent effort and I expect everyone else in the club to give 100 percent effort,” said Silva.

“We were playing well, but could not score and I am happy the goals are coming.

“I have problems in the front, the strikeforce. I have 26 players and I will be able to get more players to make them 30 and on those additions I hope I will be able to get strikers.”

For a man who deemed that Takesure Chinyama, a veteran forward who appeared suited to Dynamos, was excess baggage before the striker returned to Poland where he made the grade at a Division Three side, Silva might also have shot himself in the foot.

Chinyama, though, was always struggling with injuries, which could provide an alibi for Silva that, maybe, the Portuguese coach was right that he isn’t the right man he needed to lead his attack for in the marathon.

However, for Silva to believe that a player like Richard Kawondera could be the main man, to lead the DeMbare attack throughout the season, probably showed that the coach might have been underrating the task of coaching the Glamour Boys.

Evans Gwekwerere, the club’s former golden boy who had a brief, but successful dance with the Glamour Boys at a time of turmoil when most of their players had moved to join Shooting Stars exactly 10 years ago, is now back and could mark his return against CAPS United in the Harare Derby.