Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Robson Sharuko
7 October 2008
Harare — DYNAMOS will have to do it the hard way by taming the Indomitable Lion in its own den - becoming only the second foreign team to beat Cotonsport in their own backyard at this level - for the Harare giants to keep alive their fading Champions League dream.
The Cameroonian giants have won all their six home games in the Champions League this season and, crucially, have not conceded a goal.
They have only lost once in their backyard in the Champions League since they made their debut 10 years ago.
Now Dynamos have to change all that.
A cruel 0-1 defeat in the first leg of their semi-final showdown has left DeMbare with a mountain to climb, and a little piece of history to be written, if they are to revive a campaign that appears to have wilted in the heat of the Rufaro sunshine on Sunday.
The Glamour Boys chose the biggest match of their campaign so far to produce their worst home performance in the Champions League this season with a shocking lifeless display which turned Rufaro into a virtual mortuary.
Even their fans, normally a noisy lot, could not gather the voices to try and inspire their team as they struggled to come to terms with the side's sudden plunge from being such an efficient machine against Zamalek to such a horrible side against Cotonsport.
A fatal error by coach David Mandigora to again trust Thomas Sweswe in a defensive midfield role, in a home game where there was no need for such caution, exposed the heart of the Glamour Boys and paralysed what was supposed to be their creative hub.
Fielding Sweswe as a defensive midfielder in Abidjan against ASEC Mimosas made sense because Dynamos were short on personnel with Justice Majabvi suspended and Desmond Maringwa injured while there was also need for caution given that this was an away match.
But at home you need to be adventurous and somehow the Dynamos coaches decided to be negative from the word go and were beaten by a system that employed, at least, six men across a midfield where DeMbare were at their weakest.
With their midfield in disarray, an avenue having been opened down the left side where Reuben Mhlanga had a nightmare and the changed central defensive partnership struggling to settle, DeMbare looked anything but potential African champions.
By the first 20 minutes it became apparent that the visitors had seized the initiative in midfield, that Sweswe was needed more in central defence than in that makeshift midfield role and that this was a game crying out loudly for the talents of Maringwa.
But it was not until the 67th minute when Mandigora made his first change and the introduction of Maringwa dramatically changed the complexion of the game and his perfect cross should have been finished off by Phillip Marufu, who somehow flashed his header wide.
It was a bad miss by such an experienced striker given that it was an identical move, and from an identical position, that Cotonsport got their crucial away goal in the 32nd minute through Niger international Daouda Kamilou - his sixth of the campaign. Kamilou came into this game tied on five goals with Edward Sadomba and second on the goalscorers' charts to Enyimba's Stephen Worgu, who has scored an impressive 12 goals in the competition.
Now the Cotonsport forward is alone in second place on six goals while Sadomba, for all his pace and industry, has not scored for Dynamos in six Champions League games.
Marufu's miss, on a day when he never went into the groove, was the worst on an afternoon when Benjamin Marere, Murape Murape and even Sweswe fluffed good chances that should be taken at this level of the competition.
That DeMbare managed to create such clear chances, on a day when their general play was terrible, should give their fans hope that their team could turn the tables against Cotonsport in Garoua and gatecrash into the finals.
There was a streak of defiance among their fans at the end of the match and that they gave their players a touching standing ovation, even in defeat, was a clear indicator that they still believe that while they lost this battle, they could win the war.
They know they should not have lost this game - even against the background of that poor performance - and they know that it took a schoolboy error by Mhlanga, who left his man alone as he appealed for a free-kick, for the visitors to get their goal.
They know Majabvi will be back in his place in midfield, Sweswe will return to his central defensive role, Marufu will not be as bad as he was on Sunday, someone will probably replace Marere and goalkeeper Willard Manyatera will return to the starting XI.
They believe, crucially, that Sadomba will certainly break his goal-scoring duck and get due reward for his industry and probing.
They are not alone in having faith.
Even the BBC appears to agree with them that there is reason to believe despite the setback in Harare.
"The result leaves Dynamos with a very difficult task in the second leg on the weekend of 18-19 October, but fans will still hold some hope given their away record in the competition.
"The Zimbabwean side beat holders Etoile du Sahel and Cote d'Ivoire's ASEC Mimosas away from home," said the BBC Sport Online.
But Dynamos will have to move mountains to keep alive their dreams.
The Harare giants will have to become the first foreign team to beat Cotonsport at home this season in the Champions League with a 1-0 victory forcing the game into penalties and a 2-1 win giving DeMbare a ticket into the semi-finals on the away goals rule.
Cotonsport's home record is impressive with six wins in the six matches they have played in the Champions League at the Stade Omnisports in Garoua this year.
None of the visiting teams has also managed to score a goal in that stadium.
The home side, in contrast, has been rampant at home and has scored 14 goals in the six matches.
The irony is that Dynamos have also been impressive away from home - winning three of the six games they have played on the road for a 50 percent success rate that looks even better when you consider that they also beat Etoile du Sahel.
They then beat ASEC Mimosas away and missed two great chances before falling to a last-gasp goal, scored in the final minute of four minutes of added time, against mighty Al Ahly in Cairo.
A team that has scored five goals in six matches on the road and conceded just five when that opposition included Etoile du Sahel, Zamalek, Al Ahly and ASEC Mimosas, should really believe that it can salvage a result on foreign soil.
Even against a side unbeaten in its own backyard.
The Odds Against DeMbare
Cotonsport have won all their six games at home in the Champions League this season -- including an impressive 3-0 destruction of two-time champions Enyimba and a 3-0 win over former champions JS Kabylie of Algeria.
Since their debut appearance in the Champions League exactly 10 years ago, Cotonsport have lost only ONE game at home -- a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Etoile du Congo of Brazzaville in a first round tie in 2002.
They have only drawn ONE game against Congolese side FC Lupopo - a goalless draw in Garoua in the second round of the 2005 Champions League.
They have won 16 of their 18 home games, drawn one and lost only one - as impressive a record as any in the Champions League.
They have scored 38 goals and conceded just five in their 18 home games in the past decade.
Dynamos will have to change all that.
It's Not Over Until It's Over
Dynamos have a rich history of rising from the ashes like a Phoenix - producing one great away performance when all looks lost.
Thirteen years ago they appeared down and out after a 1-1 draw at home against Algerian side US Chaouia, but a stunning 3-2 win in Algeria took DeMbare into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Three years later Mozambican club Ferroviario Maputo held Dynamos to a 1-1 draw at the National Sports Stadium, but the Harare giants won 1-0 in Maputo to go through.
In the group stages they beat Eagles Cement 1-0 in Nigeria.
But DeMbare's greatest away performance came this season when a 1-0 first leg victory appeared too slender to defend for them against defending champions Etoile du Sahel.
However, they went to Tunisia and inflicted the first home defeat for Etoile du Sahel in more than 70 games at this level of competition.
Can they do it in Garoua?
That is the US$1 million question!
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