Vusumuzi Dube
Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
A NUMBER of Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs are set to re-group tomorrow.
The teams were given a break a fortnight ago after the league faced a venue crisis.
The PSL’s decision to halt matches was necessitated by the Sport and Recreation Commission’s (SRC) option to have games played without fans at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
However, PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele has argued that it would not have been possible to have matches played behind closed doors as clubs are yet to recover from the Covid-19 losses. The National Sports Stadium reportedly posed a health hazard, as the facility which has hosted 44 PSL matches in 12 weeks had gone for at least two months without water.
Ablution facilities and water reticulation systems at the National Sports Stadium broke down, with the turf also worn out due to over-use. The SRC advised the PSL through a statement that fans would not be allowed at the National Sports Stadium, with matches limited to two per week to improve the turf.
Eight clubs — Dynamos, Caps United, Herentals, Yadah, Black Rhinos, Cranborne Bullets, Simba Bhora and ZPC Kariba have been using the National Sports Stadium.
Deemed Zimbabwe’s ceremonial home of football, Rufaro Stadium, is still going through renovations, with Simba Bhora wrapping up works at Shamva’s Wadzanai Stadium while ZPC Kariba recently got a lease with Nyamhunga Stadium owners.
Some local football fans were taken aback to learn that PSL had taken a decision to have a three -week break on 7 June, after the SRC, who own National Sports Stadium indicated that the facility needed maintenance work done.
In a bid to guard against player burnout among other reasons, local elite football outfits were compelled to grant their arsenal some time off from full training sessions giving them programmes to individually follow.
Bulawayo Chiefs head coach Lizwe Sweswe said after going on a breather his charges trained once in the past week, beginning tomorrow they will train thrice up to Friday.
“We engaged in a break of about 10 days and the boys trained once in the past week. Next week, we will then engage in a three-day training programme that is set for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Full training will start in the following week.
We never planned for this but there is nothing we can do though we expected to go for a break midway into the season. It all came all of a sudden and this can always affect our rhythm,” said Sweswe, a former FC Platinum and Tsholotsho FC gaffer.
In their Week 13 fixture, Amakhosi Amahle will play host to Green Fuel at Luveve Stadium. Chicken Inn head coach Prince Matore said they will resume training tomorrow.
“We are re-grouping on Monday (tomorrow) with a morning training session so that we start to prepare ourselves. We are looking forward to continue with the fixtures programme that was now getting more and more exciting.
We just hope our players who went for the break injured have fully recovered as they were being monitored by our medical team,” said Matore whose charges are set to lock horns with defending champions FC Platinum in their next match that will be played at Mandava Stadium.
Gamecocks had their pacey forward Brian Muza and holding midfielder Richard Hachiro in the treatment room.
We have it on good authority that Hwange, former league champions Dynamos and the league’s ex-Cup Kings Caps United will restart their training workouts tomorrow.
Highlanders communications and marketing officer Nozibelo Maphosa revealed their players were not granted time off.
“It was full training for our players. They never went for any break. It’s on Friday (last week) that they did not train,” said Maphosa.
Clubs may get another break, the traditional half-season stoppage at the halfway mark, making it a stop-start affair, as clubs are set to battle to get their players’ engines up and running.
Injuries and a loss of momentum are among the chief worries for gaffers in the league after the PSL announced about a fortnight ago that it was taking a break with immediate effect to allow for refurbishment works at Rufaro, Nyamhunga and Sakubva stadia to be completed, before normal business resumes on July 1.
However, the recent break effectively meant that the sides in the league will find it difficult to get their rhythm, as the PSL is also due to go on a mid-season break soon after the resumption of hostilities between the clubs in the local top flight.
Online Reporter