THE Dynamos leadership has challenged the technical team and the players to wake up and smell the coffee after the Harare giants suffered a setback in their Confederation Cup play-off tie against Angolan side Interclube at Rufaro at the weekend.

The match ended goalless and the fact that they did not concede left DeMbare with some hope as they can still make it to the group phase if they can manage at least a scoring draw in the return leg in two weeks time.

Club chairman, Kenny Mubaiwa, yesterday called a crisis meeting to discuss Sunday's performance and said the Glamour Boys should aim to turn the tables in

Angola and qualify for the mini-league stage despite being held at home.

"We held a meeting like we always do and we wanted to see what the problem is. The coaches gave us their side of the argument and they stressed more on the need to get more players to beef up the squad, something we are seriously looking into.

"They have to get the players of their choice and recommend them to the executive," said Mubaiwa.

"We agreed with the coaches that they needed to raise their game. We told them that we need to get good results so that it will be well for everyone, including them and us.

"For a team of Dynamos' stature results are needed. If you look at it, there were no side issues like money matters to distract us. I see ourselves as a better team compared to Interclube.

"The players themselves should have a better understanding of what it means playing for Dynamos. We will emphasise that to them because it will be embarrassing

if we fail to make it to the group stages.

"We don't want that to happen because we were relegated from a higher tournament to the second tier and we should be able to hold our own there," said Mubaiwa.

Dynamos now face a tricky task to stay in the Confederation Cup tournament after giving away their home advantage. The Harare giants were expected to take a healthy lead at Rufaro to ease the pressure when they travel to Luanda, but they struggled against their tactically disciplined opponents. Interclube knew exactly what they wanted and they did well to frustrate the hosts with a perfect display. The visitors defended well and made full use of the length and breadth of the ground as DeMbare got lost in the midfield, which clearly missed the experience of injured veteran Murape Murape. But DeMbare are not going to give up easily.

"The performance wasn't too bad. I believe it just wasn't our day and I see better chances of qualifying. Maybe the team was affected by that break last month while these Angolans were playing continuously in their league.

"I have confidence in this team because these are more or less the same guys who won the championship last season. They need our support and I urge the fans to rally behind them," said Mubaiwa.

Pasuwa acknowledged they needed to keep focused in the return leg.

The Dynamos coach said he had hoped for a better result on Sunday but things did not go according to plan. "It's a setback for us. We now have to go to Angola and fight hard," said Pasuwa.

"It is still possible to earn a scoring draw in Luanda which will be enough to qualify but we have made a hard for ourselves by not winning at home.

"We will need to work hard in the return leg and try to motivate the players to keep focused," said Pasuwa.

DeMbare are now bracing for a new life without striker Takesure Chinyama who signed for Orlando Pirates last week while midfielder Denver Mukamba and goalkeeper could also be on their way out.

Mukamba could make a move to Bidvest Wits and Arubi has been linked with newly promoted Pretoria University.

Mubaiwa, however, said he was not happy with the way the negotiations for the players have been handled.

"As chairman of the club I am actually shocked by the reports in the press that our players are going to such and such a club in South Africa because we don't have any official communication about that," said Mubaiwa.

Confederation Cup Results

Al Hilal 2-0 C.O. Bamako, AF Amadou 0-1 Diallo, Wydad Casablanca 1-3 Stade Malien, CO Meknes 0-1 MAS Fès, AC Leopards 0-3 Al Merreikh, Coton Sport 1-0 Al Ahly Shandy, Djoliba AC v Club Africain.