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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
PREMIER Soccer League coaches have expressed concern over the uncertainty brought by the proposed mini-league tournament that was scheduled for this month.
Premiership teams were given the nod to commence group training some two months ago with a two-week tournament under a bio-bubble having been proposed.
The tournament would have paved the way for a phased return of football with the First Division next in line.
But, as it stands, with the hefty budget needed for the mini-tournament to take place, that competition might as well be off. But, coaches across the Premiership, who have been battling to recalibrate their players who had gone for over seven months without playing football yet alone training as a group, have expressed concern over the uncertainty surrounding the hosting of the event.
Ngezi Platinum coach, Rodwell Dhlakama, said it’s confusing and the fact that nothing is concrete in terms of the proposal is affecting the way he conducts his training sessions.
“It has been a whole two months of uncertainty. We don’t know whether we are in pre-season or we will play a tournament and if so, what format is the tournament going to take,” said Dhlakama.
“The type of training that we are supposed to do should be in line with the competition that we would be playing.
“But, in this case, we don’t have any clue on what competition we would be playing. We don’t know if there will be a competition that is going to be played and if there is going to be one is it going to be five teams or something.
“It’s really confusing to say the least. Training programmes should be drawn in a methodical way with the upcoming competitions in mind. But, we cannot do that at the moment. So in terms of the players’ mentality, it’s really not good.”
Triangle coach Taurai Mangwiro said he would have been ordinarily working on his players’ mentality after a long period apart but he has had to work on other aspects although he is not sure whether there will be any competition to be played in the near future.
“First few weeks we normally work more on the mental as well the physical aspects of the game. The lockdown was straining and there is need to address that anomaly and also remind each other that there is need to continue observing the safety precautions and guidelines on Covid-19.
“What we will do will, however, depend on what the calendar will be like as at the moment we aren’t sure and that makes our planning as coaches a little bit difficult,” he said.
Black Rhinos’ Herbert Maruwa said he is going to be disappointed if the mini-league is not going to be played.
“The general uncertainty is very affecting because we have intensified our training routines with more focus to the proposed mini-league. We don’t know whether to continue with the intensity or slow it down a bit. We really don’t know,” said Maruwa.
Herentals coach Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva said his team had been training with the mini-league in mind and he wanted to win it at all costs.
“If the mini-league is to be cancelled as is likely, it automatically means we have to slow down and readjust ourselves to next year’s league calendar. It’s very disappointing. We have even signed more players in view of the proposed tournament but well, we would have to wait,” said Mutiwekuziva.
Online Reporter