By Tendai Chisiri
Dynamos FC stormed in the Harare Division 2 league Cup semi- finals after edging Irvine’s FC 1-0 in a mouth-watering quarter-final match played at Prince Edward School on Saturday afternoon.
It was a final before the final as the two teams played a deadlock first half going to the breather all nil. Irvine’s put up a solid defence with 19-year-old Takudzwa Chiwara playing well at the central back.
Dynamos had good build ups from the back but their strikers were chief culprits as they failed to find goals upfront. Alex Munetsi scored in the 41th minute through a free kick. The solitary goal buried down Irvine’s who failed to come back.
Dynamos coach Norman Taruvinga was not excited by his charges’ performances.” I feel we dominated play but failed to convert chances. According to our standards, we didn’t play very well”, he said. ‘We hope to start scoring more goals”, he added.
In another match played in the morning, Harvesters fc outclassed University of Zimbabwe FC 7-6 on penalties. The match ended 0-0 on stoppage time. After the first 5 penalties were scored the teams missed their 6th penalty. UZ missed their 7th penalty whilst BN Academy on Harvesters franchise slammed home theirs through Aaron Kapiri to book a place in the semi-finals.
BN Academy coach Philemon Mutyakureva said they did not perform according to expectations.” We are expecting improvement in the next match as this was the kids’ first competitive match after the halt due to Covid-19 induced lock down”, he said.
On Sunday, Simbisa FC squared against Irvine’s Academy FC in the afternoon whilst Avondale FC locked horns against Rugare Rangers FC in the morning.
Simbisa FC beat Irvine’s Academy FC 3-1 on penalties after a pulsating stoppage time .Irvine’s had a strong physically fit team and its players won the ball in most tussles. Simbisa FC played second fiddle to their opponents. Irvine’s scored the first penalty with the second penalty going over the bar and the 3rd penalty was saved by Simbisa FC’s stopper. Simbisa scored all their 3 penalties and it was down and dusted as they qualified for the semi-finals.
Simbisa coach John Chezhara said the performance was bad according to what they had planned. He hopes his team to change their game in the semi-final.
Avondale FC won 1-0 against Rugare Rangers. Both teams fielded youthful sides and they were a marvel to watch. Avondale’s Munashe Nandolo scored in the dying minutes to give his team a victory. Jeremiah Makangira assisted with a cross at the left wing before Nandolo sliced it home in the 60th minute.
Avondale coach Albert Mutakatara said the result was pleasing.”It is a new team so we are building up. Most of our players moved to big clubs”, he said.” We don’t play to win but we are developing youngsters to be future stars. We just play according to our philosophy and we are going to play the same game in the semi-finals”, he added.
The matches are being played 30 minutes aside and top-flight referees are officiating as they are the ones who have been tested for match fitness yet.
Semi-finals fixtures
Dynamos vs Simbisa Saturday 10:00 am
Harvesters vs Avondale Saturday 12:00 pm
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