President Mugabe on Friday said took time to meet with the entire Dynamos FC team at state house and urged them to win on Sunday. Dynamos will host Cameroon’s Cotonsport Garoua in the semi-final, first leg match at Rufaro tomorrow.
Mugbe wants Dynmos to win by least two goals. He said the Government will give assistance to Dynamos, whenever possible, in the remaining assignments of the competition.
When playing in the African Champions League, Mugabe said, Dynamos were flying the national flag high and as such deserved all the support. « Dynamos DeMbare, this is a double D and it means double defeat. So let’s go out there and get at least two goals, that is a goal for each D. « It’s possible to do that against Cotonsport, » he said..
Despite West African teams being traditionally regarded as football powerhouses, Mugabe urged Dynamos to remain resolute and noted that the Harare giants had already felled African soccer powerhouses like ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt’s Zamalek.
Garoua, the city where Cotonsport comes from, is the hometown of the president of the Confederation of African Football Issa Hayatou.
With a Cameroon side having last won the Champions League in 1980 when Canon Yaounde were crowned champions, interest has risen in the West African country that this could be their year.
There have been suggestions have suggested that since Hayatou is from Garoua, maybe he has some special interest in this team and this has weighed heavily on the performance of match officials in their games.
There has been concern in this country that Malian match officials, from West Africa like Cotonsport, will handle tomorrow’s game when maybe a fairer deal should have seen an Arab referee handling this game.
Is this part of the politics that Hayatou could be playing? At 5pm Sunday, we will know the answer.
