The Sunday Mail
PAULO JORGE SILVA cut the swearing, dished out high fives and bought his players lunch as Dynamos prepared for a tricky away fixture against newcomers Mutare City Rovers at Sakubva today.
The under-pressure Portuguese coach is desperately trying to mend bridges after weeks of blaming everyone but himself for DeMbare’s winless and goalless start to the season.
If he was not hugging Mutuma, then Silva was cracking a joke with Masimba Mambare or Godknows Murwira. As Silva unleashed his charm offensive, assistant coach Lloyd Mutasa held talks with some players in a desperate bid to revive the Chazunguza spirit.
Mutasa – a DeMbare legend who played for the club in the 1998 CAF Champions League final – urged the Class of 2016 to play for the badge.
“If you are playing for Dynamos you should not look at who is the coach, or who is the president of the club because you are representing the institution.
“I have been telling some of these players, Dynamos is bigger than individual differences. We have been here before, we can still go and comeback again and find DeMbare still going strong … this is a very big institution father,” said Mutasa.
The Dynamos technical team is sitting on a three-match ultimatum and has no option but to work harmoniously lest they will all be jobless.
They have been tasked with raking in nine points from a fixtures programme that also includes a tantalising Harare Derby against archrivals Caps United next weekend and a potential banana skin trip to the Colliery for a date with Hwange.
Dynamos have gone for over seven hours without scoring but Silva insists today is the day the script changes.
“The goals will come starting with the game in Mutare,” he said.
One thing Silva has learnt, though, in his turbulent 100 days in charge, is that coaching DeMbare is not a stroll across the famous Madeira Botanical Gardens back in his Iberian homeland.
He has come face-to-face with DeMbare’s sometimes shoddy and dodgy way of doing things. However, the temperamental Portuguese gaffer believes he is finally getting the players to play for him.
“A coach needs players who fight in his corner, those who are prepared to die on the pitch if necessary. It is good that everyone is starting to change, it is all about attitude.
“And I have been seeing a lot of change in attitude, having two sessions a day was a problem in the past but today (Thursday) you can see they (players) are all here at Hellenics waiting for our 2pm training session,” said Silva.
The Portuguese has blamed almost everything around him for the team’s demise and last week accused unnamed players of sabotaging his efforts.
However, it was evident during the week that Silva was desperately trying to mend bridges as bought the players lunch on two consecutive days as part of the pacification process.
“My problem has been that I demand professionalism, I demand total commitment from the players. But look at what I have been getting … players who ask to be substituted after only 45 minutes because of a cramp?
“I have never made a tactical substitution, where I have made a change it has been because the player is tired,” said Silva.
“We are working 100 percent, not because of the ultimatum but because I am used to working hard. With or without an ultimatum every Dynamos game is crucial, but now things have to change for the better.”
Mutare City Rovers have the most porous rearguard in the league so far. They have shipped in seven in their two losses to Ngezi Platinum (0-3) and Harare City (1-4).
Though Mutare City have only scored one, it is still one more goal than Dynamos have managed.
But DeMbare are confident of ending their goal drought today.
Conversely, Mutare’s newly appointed coach Taku Shariwa sees the Dynamos game as an opportunity for his team to also get off the mark.
“I would never have asked for a better opponent than Dynamos at this stage. Our circumstances are almost similar; they are winless and have some issues in their camp.
“We will, however, approach the game with an underdog tag around our necks. We are coming from Division One and we also have inexperienced players.
“But we are in this league to compete, we will fight for maximum points, even a point we will leave us content from this encounter,” he said.
Fixtures (All matches start at 3pm)
Triangle v Border Strikers (Gibbo), Tsholotsho v Highlanders (BF), Caps United v Harare City (NSS), Mutare City v Dynamos (Sakubva), Hwange v Ngezi Platinum (Colliery)
