There are only a few football goers who would have wanted the Harare Derby to come at a time like today when DeMbare and Caps United are in probably the biggest crisis in their long history.
So cruel is football to the extent that one of the two football giants will be forced to send the other deeper into the relegation waters in order to save self with a win in today's match.
A draw will not do any good to both sides as at the moment Caps United are in 13th place with 32 points while Dynamos are in 16th position with 29 points and both are very much in the boiling waters of relegation
With Kwekwe United already gone, three other teams who finish in 15th, 16th, and 17th places will be washed away to the unfashionable world of Division One football.
What is heartening is that there won't be any favours for each other for the nine teams facing the chop as they will play against each other for survival and thereby leaving no room for match fixing.
It is, therefore, important that teams beat fellow relegation strugglers to ease their own worries of dropping to Division One.
Back to the Harare Derby.
There are some similarities between Makepekepe and DeMbare going into today's game, the most important being that both are facing relegation.
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The two teams are also in the hands of Zambian coaches Ian Bakala for Caps United and Kelvin Kaindu for Dynamos, who both played for the Zambian national teams.
The two teams are also coming into this match after picking up only a point in their last matches with Dynamos' in a 0-0 stalemate with Triangle and Caps United also in a 0-0 draw with Herentals.
Dynamos and Caps United also have a new set of coaches from the first match when the Green Machine were under the guidance of Lloyd Chitembwe while Lloyd Chigowe was in charge of DeMbare.
However, Chitembwe and Chigowe have since long gone and - since then — a lot has changed for Dynamos, while for Makeoekepe, the struggles continue and it appears for the worst.
Dynamos have won four and drawn one of their last five matches while the Green Machine have won only one and drawn one of their past five matches as well.
Dynamos are having a fairytale run in the Chibuku Super Cup and are through to the semi-finals of the competition while Makepekepe were blown away long back and have long forgotten whether they were in the competition in the first place.
Statistics and current form point to a DeMbare win, but history dictates that form does not count in this Harare Derby and Caps United can spring a surprise.
Surely, Rufaro Stadium will be filled to the brim but the fear is that one of the two giants will be in a precarious position come the end of match.
The question is : Who will that be?
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