Dynamos are faced with a situation where they require other sides, interesting including bitter rivals Highlanders and Caps United, to do them a favour to stop the Mighty Bulls’ march towards their maiden league championship. What will however be disgusting to many DeMbare followers is the fact that Dynamos had the chances to firmly put the destiny of the Championship within their hands, and failure by their players to hold the nerve and convert spot kicks, might turn out to be one of their biggest undoing.
Arubi’s penalty miss was the third by a Dynamos player since October. For a side whose penalty awards are always viewed with suspicion by their rivals, who feel that the multitudes that follow the Mbare side always put referees under pressure to award them spot kicks, DeMbare players must know better than to bury such chances when they come their way. In their last match, DeMbare needed the nerves of referee Ruzive Ruzive to order a retake of Murape Murape’s penalty, to ensure maximum points against the Mighty Bulls. Murape had put his effort wide, but the referee adjudged that Motor Action players were encroaching into the penalty area against the rules of the game, and ordered a retake. Up stepped Arubi to draw DeMbare to within a point of the Eric Rosen owned side. However, the Zimbabwe International goalkeeper could not repeat his feat against Gunners’ Tafadzwa Dube, as he put his effort wide, much to the chagrin of those occupying Vietnam Stand.
It is interesting though to note that at the beginning of the season, defender Guthrie Zhokinyu took responsibility for all of Dynamos’ spot kicks, until the game against Hwange at Rufaro Stadium in October. DeMbare again went on to lose the game 1 – 0, dropping more points which they may live to regret come end of the season. Zhokinyu missed a controversial penalty, taken after Hwange players had threatened to walk off the pitch protesting against the penalty award, given after midfielder Wonder Sithole had tumbled in the box. Zhokinyu might have later wished that Chipangano had gone ahead with their actions, as they were likely to result in the abandonment of the match and possibly awarding of points to DeMbare.
After the Zhokinyu miss, striker Evans Gwekwerere was entrusted with the penalty taking job, but even he found the going tough. Eagles goalkeeper Samuel Mafukidze dived to his right to save his effort in another league match at Rufaro, restricting Dynamos to a painful 1-1 draw – a case of 2 points lost than 1 gained. Gwekwerere was immediately sidelined from the penalty taking duties, and veteran Murape Murape came to the scene. Murape’s first chance at glory was going to be in the volatile top of the table clash against the Mighty Bulls. Having missed a seater a week earlier against bitter rivals Caps United in open play a game earlier, Murape sought to endear himself with the DeMbare faithful with the goal that was to dehorn their foes to the throne. Again, the penalty blues stuck with him. He missed, only for Ruzive and Arubi to save his day.
Missing so many penalties in the twilight of the season is likely to see Dynamos paying heavily. All, but one of the penalty misses so far have been the difference between collecting points or walking off empty handed for DeMbare. It remains to be seen whether they will regret the misses come end of season. Some circles have started suggesting that this is the effect of not having Sports Psychologists in the Zimbabwean premiership, which then sees the players failing to hold their nerve in the midst of the multitudes’ expectations. Arubi has been one of the most loved Dynamos players this season, with some stellar performances that have often earned him instant cash rewards from the Dynamos followers. His miss over the weekend might have however meted instant justice on his side’s title aspirations, turning him from a hero to villain.
Other pundits claimed that senior players at Dynamos intimidate others, hence the nerves seen on the pitch. One wonders if that is the reason for the constant change of penalty takers. Missing a penalty is common in football, but sometimes there is no better sign of confidence in a player by his teammates or coach than to ask him to take the next one. There seems to be no second chances at Dynamos. Zhokinyu scored more than 4 penalties for Dynamos from the beginning of the season, but was immediately stripped of the responsibility the day he missed the first one. Was that the right strategy? A most recent exhibition of how best to deal with a penalty miss was in the recent World Cup second round match between Ghana and Uruguay. Although he missed probably the most important of his entire career, Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan’s teammates showed a lot of belief in him, which he repaid with lots of composure when he led his teammates in the penalty shootout. Such chances don’t seem to exist at DeMbare, and one wonders who will be brave enough to step up, if they do get a penalty against Kiglon Bird tomorrow.
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