HARARE - Bitter rivals CAPS United and Dynamos will this afternoon battle for honours and bragging rights at Bulawayo’s Barbourfields in the semi-final of the Mbada Diamond Cup.
It is perhaps befitting that the two sworn enemies have traversed over 400 kilometres from their Harare bases to neutral Barbourfields to settle Zimbabwean football’s fiercest intra-city rivalry.
Reigning Zimbabwe champions Dynamos believe Barbourfields is not the ideal venue for their highly anticipated tie against CAPS given the bad blood between Dynamos and fellow title contenders Highlanders.
DeMbare wrote to the Premier Soccer League management this week expressing concern over the choice of a venue which is Bosso’s home ground.
DeMbare agreed to fulfil the tie after being given security guarantees by the Psl management.
“Considering where the league title race is now, there is tension between Dynamos and Highlanders fans”, said Dynamos secretary general Roy Kazembe in an interview with the Daily News on Friday.
“The league chiefs have to put measures in place”.
Despite DeMbare fears that Bosso fans will rally behind Makepekepe, the Zimbabwe champions should be fairly confident of continuing their dominance over their Harare rivals.
Last year DeMbare beat CAPS United in the Bob 87 Super Cup before completing a league double over the same team.
The Glamour Boys went on to knock out Makepekepe 1-0 in the first round of the inaugural Mbada Diamonds Cup last year.
The DeMbare stranglehold over the Green Machine has continued this year. Calisto Pasuwa’s men completed another league double beating CAPS 1-0 and 3-0.
Pasuwa must also have been very encouraged by his team’s gritty performance in the 2-1 victory over glitzy Monomotapa in their last league match.
But CAPS defender Blessing Zabula has refused to read much into history.
“Many people are going on and on making a lot of noise on Dynamos’ recent dominance over us”, said the Chipinge-born defender.
“This is a different game. Cup games are unpredictable. The better team on the day will win and I am confident CAPS will fight hard to get into the final.”