THE BIG KICK-OFF

THE five-goal destruction of Dynamos by champions Scottland is still being felt in the Castle Lager Premiership as the business end of a new season gets underway at Rufaro this afternoon. It was at this grand old stadium where Scottland produced a masterclass against a disjointed DeMbare in a Castle Challenge Cup showdown which ended in humiliation for the Glamour Boys. That the scoreline was 5-0 was probably kind to Dynamos who will be the first to acknowledge that things could easily have gone worse on an afternoon in which their opponents turned on the style.

Today, Rufaro will host MWOS, the club who would have been champions in Division One and champions in the PSL in successive season had the barrier called Scottland not arrived on the scene. The Norton side finished second on both occasions and will now want to finally add a piece of silverware to a journey in which they have been one of the standout clubs in the country. They were the best team in the PSL in the first half of the campaign last year but then they lost their way after the break and completed their season in second place – seven points adrift of the champions.

Harare proved to be a tough hunting ground for MWOS last year and they failed to win a game in the capital. They would like to correct that in the first game of the season when they take on newboys FC Hunters, who are under the guidance of Nesbert “Yabo” Saruchera. Billy Veremu was one of the standout players last year and now that he has completed his move to MWOS, he knows there will be a lot of expectations on his shoulders to fire from the word go.

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Tomorrow, Rufaro will host the Students with Tonderai Ndiraya returning to the stadium which was his home when he guided Scottland to the league championship. He has since moved to Chicken Inn while his place has been taken over by Norman Mapeza who heads what is probably the biggest technical team in the history of the domestic Premiership. The Scotts will get the privilege to open the brand new Chahwanda Stadium when they take on Hardrock on Sunday in what promises to be the match of the weekend. It’s the same day when CAPS United fans will get the first glimpse of their new-look team.

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