Dynamos hire psychologists

DYNAMOS will want to quickly forget about their recent trip to Maseru and have engaged psychologists to give their players a mental boost in their preparation for a tougher assignment against Tunisian side CA Bizertin. The Harare giants, who overcame a preliminary round hurdle with a 3-1 aggregate victory over Lesotho Correctional Services, will face the North Africans in the first round next weekend.

They will start their mission away and club chairman, Kenny Mubaiwa, yesterday noted that the team has often struggled when paired against North African teams in the inter-club competition.

Dynamos are aiming to reach the group stages of the tournament following disappointing campaigns in the last two seasons but this year's draw has not been favourable to them as they face Bizertin in the first round and, if they are successful, they will most probably find record champions Al Ahly from Egypt waiting for them for the decisive tie before the group stages.

Al Ahly had a bye in the preliminary round and will face Kenya champions Tusker in the first round.

Mubaiwa said North Africa has been a difficult playing ground altogether and said it was crucial to prepare the players mentally especially when they are coming from a forgettable trip in Maseru where the team's morale appear to have taken a knock.

DeMbare, who suffered a mid-air scare on their way to the mountain kingdom, lost 1-0 to the minnows Lesotho Correctional Services in the reverse leg of their encounter and the club's executive felt they should engage professional services to psyche up their team ahead of the trip to Tunisia.

Mubaiwa said the Glamour Boys will not leave anything to chance as they have often found it difficult each time they take their campaign to North Africa in the Caf Champions League. The games are getting tougher and tougher as we go and we would want to do everything possible to make sure our team is well prepared," said Mubaiwa.

"If you may recall we have not had too much joy in North Africa and probably it's something that may have come to stick in the back of our minds that we have to struggle whenever we go there, which should not be the case.

"We have to change that mindset because it is very possible for us to go there and come out with a good result. If we can win against the same opponents here it means we can also do it there but the problem is we are not mentally up for it.

"The other thing is that teams from that side of the continent can be very rough with visiting sides. Sometimes they play mind games to unsettle opponents and these are some of the things we need to prepare ourselves for. There are new players in the team, some of whom have never been exposed to such experiences. So we wouldn't want our players to succumb to such bullying tactics and intimidation if the guys in Tunisia subject us to such treatment.

"These guys (the psychologists) will talk to them so that they focus on nothing else but winning the game," said Mubaiwa.

Dynamos were knocked out by Esperance in the second round last year on a 7-1 aggregate defeat.

Despite drawing 1-1 in the second leg at Rufaro, DeMbare had already blown their chance after losing 6-0 in Tunis.

They had also suffered a disappointment against a North African side the previous tournament in 2011 when they gave away a 4-1 first leg win over Algeria's MC Alger at Rufaro and lost 3-0 in Algiers to bow out in the first round on away goals rule.

Mubaiwa said they were not prepared to suffer another frustration and revealed that players will stand to reap more in terms of bonuses if they are successful. It's for their own good if they do well and progress because as a club we are prepared to give out more on winning bonuses.

"I think they have learnt from the Lesotho trip where they did not receive anything after that defeat. We will sit down with the players as we progress in this tournament and they higher we go the more money they will get," said Mubaiwa.