By Sheldon Hakata

ALL roads lead to the ceremonial home of football, Rufaro Stadium, this Sunday afternoon.

Zimbabwean football giants Highlanders and Dynamos lock horns again in the second round of the Castle Lager PSL league.

Highlanders were founded in 1926 as Lions Football Club and was composed mainly of boys from Makokoba, Bulawayo’s oldest township.

The Ndebele King Lobengula’s grandsons, Albert and Rhodes, sons of Njube, founded the team.

Rhodes, especially, was a keen footballer.

Players changed the name to Matabeleland Highlanders Football Club in 1936.

Highlanders stars, whose light has shone brilliantly on the football pitch, include Rahman Gumbo, Mercedes Sibanda, Willard ‘Nduuna’ Mashinkila-Khumalo, Madinda ‘’Nkhatazile’’ Ndlovu, Dumisani Ngulube and many others.

Players from Highlanders who have played at the highest level of professional football in the world include Peter Ndlovu and Bruce Grobbelaar.

Highlanders are the second most supported football club in the country’s top flight league, with over five million followers, after Dynamos, who claim to enjoy more than seven million supporters.

Though the fortunes of the two giants had somewhat waned in recent years, the teams, after appointing new coaches, are steadily recovering. 

Their encounters are more than a game and very emotive.

Better known as Tshilamoya, meaning ‘big upsetters or demoralisers’, Highlanders are currently enjoying a purple patch with inform striker Prince Dube wreaking havoc and terrorising local defenders.

Dube’s presence on the field will most likely unsettle the Dynamos defenders, especially after scoring the goal that knocked them from the Chibuku Super Cup competition in the first round at Rufaro Stadium.

Rivalry between Dynamos and Highlanders is at par with some of the regional and world football’s greatest rivalries, like that between Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates, and Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa.

The Soweto and Vietnam stands at Barbourfields and Rufaro Stadium respectively have been the hotbeds where this rivalry reaches boiling point. 

Recently, Dynamos capitalised on Evans Katema’s goal to beat Bosso to lift the Anti-Sanctions Challenge Cup at the National Sports Stadium and thus, the two teams have a score to settle.

Highlanders coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh will depend on his young on fire players to cause an upset against a team he has beaten three times this season in different competitions.

However, the game can go either way, depending on how players handle the pressure.

Fixtures

Saturday

Ngezi Platinum Stars vs Manica Diamonds FC (Baobab)

FC Platinum vs Bulawayo Chiefs (Mandava)

Herentals vs Harare City (NSS)

Sunday

Dynamos vs Highlanders (Rufaro)

Yadah vs Chapungu (NSS)

ZPC Kariba vs Black Rhinos (Nyamhunga)

Hwange vs Mushowani Stars (Colliery)

TelOne vs CAPS United (Ascot)

Chicken vs Triangle (Luveve)-postponed.