Sports / Soccer
Broke Dembare could endure a road trip to Gaborone, Botswana
11 Feb 2014 at 02:09hrs | Views
DESPITE being the most famous football brand in Zimbabwe, giants Dynamos could endure a road trip to Gaborone, Botswana, for their African Champions League preliminary round, second leg match against Mochudi Centre Chiefs this weekend.
Dynamos enjoy a healthy 3-0 lead from the reverse fixture at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday after Washington Pakamisa scored a brace while Masimba Mambare added the other goal on a rain swept afternoon.
Now DeMbare are hoping to defend their advantage in the reverse leg, but their failure to land a major sponsor for the campaign could see the Glamour Boys covering the 1 069km journey by road, as they have little in their coffers for this African Safari adventure.
Dynamos' principal sponsors BancABC stated that they will not be able to fund the team's campaign in the African Champions League although they are ready to help in the domestic matches.
Club secretary Webster Chikengezha yesterday pointed out that they could be leaving for Gaborone on Thursday by road for the game scheduled for Sunday.
Chikengezha said the club's financial position makes it difficult for them to travel by air using the available options of flying directly on an Air Botswana plane or via Johannesburg.
Travelling to Gaborone by road from Harare takes an average of 17 hours and Dynamos are proposing to have another two buses to ferry their supporters to Botswana.
"If we want to travel via South Africa, then we are likely to spend twice as much than on the direct flight," said Chikengezha.
"The challenge for the direct flight is that it leaves Harare on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
"So if we leave early, it means we will have to foot the costs for the extra days while travelling on Saturday is tricky since we will arrive at night.
"It means our players will have very little time to acclimatise before they go into the match on Sunday, so if we could leave on Thursday by road, we get a little rest on Friday before feeling the match venue on Saturday."
Dynamos have one leg in the first round where they are expected to play either AS Vita of DRC or Nigeria's Kano Pillars.
Dynamos enjoy a healthy 3-0 lead from the reverse fixture at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday after Washington Pakamisa scored a brace while Masimba Mambare added the other goal on a rain swept afternoon.
Now DeMbare are hoping to defend their advantage in the reverse leg, but their failure to land a major sponsor for the campaign could see the Glamour Boys covering the 1 069km journey by road, as they have little in their coffers for this African Safari adventure.
Dynamos' principal sponsors BancABC stated that they will not be able to fund the team's campaign in the African Champions League although they are ready to help in the domestic matches.
Club secretary Webster Chikengezha yesterday pointed out that they could be leaving for Gaborone on Thursday by road for the game scheduled for Sunday.
Chikengezha said the club's financial position makes it difficult for them to travel by air using the available options of flying directly on an Air Botswana plane or via Johannesburg.
Travelling to Gaborone by road from Harare takes an average of 17 hours and Dynamos are proposing to have another two buses to ferry their supporters to Botswana.
"If we want to travel via South Africa, then we are likely to spend twice as much than on the direct flight," said Chikengezha.
"The challenge for the direct flight is that it leaves Harare on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
"So if we leave early, it means we will have to foot the costs for the extra days while travelling on Saturday is tricky since we will arrive at night.
"It means our players will have very little time to acclimatise before they go into the match on Sunday, so if we could leave on Thursday by road, we get a little rest on Friday before feeling the match venue on Saturday."
Dynamos have one leg in the first round where they are expected to play either AS Vita of DRC or Nigeria's Kano Pillars.
Source - The Herald
