The making of a midfield boss

OCEAN MUSHURE could still be playing at left-back had Yadah FC winger Leeroy Mavhunga not gone for trials in Portugal during the Cosafa Castle Cup soccer finals.

The 32-year-old Dynamos skipper was successfully thrust into midfield by Sunday Chidzambwa and blossomed in the role as Zimbabwe powered to regional glory last month.

And with the experiment working beyond expectations, Lloyd Mutasa – the Dynamos coach and Chidzambwa’s assistant at Cosafa – has continued to deploy Mushure as a midfielder.

“The influence came very much from the Cosafa Cup campaign. Our natural left winger Leeroy had gone for trials in Portugal and we needed a player who could take over. We tried Ocean and he gave us what we wanted,” said Mutasa.

“Here at DeMbare we were also not getting as much goals as we wanted and we also thought of pushing him upfront.

“We were also trying to lessen the burden of overlapping and coming back to cover his left back position. We must remember that the guy is 32 now.”

Mushure has scored in his last three matches and Mutasa hails him as the team’s main man.

The former Motor Action and Monomotapa player was on hand to deliver the winner for DeMbare on July 30 when the Glamour Boys edged Triangle 2-1 at Rufaro, and a week later his corner kick went straight into the nets as Dynamos beat Black Rhinos 1-0.

Last Wednesday night at the National Sports Stadium, his header off a pinpoint cross from Denver Mukamba sealed it for DeMbare.

“Three goals in three matches, what more can we ask for? Mushure is our main man, he is the reason why Dynamos are one of the top four teams in the league today,” Mutasa said, as he ran out of superlatives to describe his captain.

“He is playing the true captaincy role as he is leading by example. If you look at the number of assists and goals he has provided you will be convinced.

“He has scored a total of five goals and he has been so good with his set pieces. I think he is enjoying more on the attack than he did at left back.”