Ashly Dhani
Don Makanyanga
WITH uncertainty continuing to cloud the resumption of domestic football this year, FC Platinum coach Hendrikus Pieter de-Jongh has added his voice to the debate over the bio-bubble and urged Zifa to do away with the proposed mini-league tournament.
This is despite Zifa wanting to use the tournament to allow Warriors coach Zvdravako Logarusic to select a provisional squad that would prepare for Zimbabwe’s participation at the 2021 African Nations Championships (Chan) tournament in Cameroon in January.
Former Highlanders gaffer De-Jongh, however, suggests that a joint camp between the Warriors and his FC Platinum outfit could prove cost-effective for Zifa “and help reduce the spread of the coronavirus”.
“I have heard that this tournament is for the national team coach to select players for the Chan tournament. Why don’t they follow my idea, support FC Platinum in the CAF Champions League and the Warriors.
“The national team coach should select his squad, they go into training camp for three weeks, we (FC Platinum) play against the Warriors and that will be a good preparation for both teams.
“Clubs are not in a good financial position, hence I think it will be cost-effective to have the national team and FC Platinum to host a joint camp, since the cause is the same, we both will be representing Zimbabwe,” said De-Jongh.
The Dutchman fears that the proposed mini-league could have a lot of repercussions on both the clubs and players if it is allowed to go ahead.
“Coaches need an average of six to eight weeks of preparation in normal situations now, this is a crazy situation where you want to have clubs to prepare and participate in a tournament over a month.
“Remember most of the teams in Zimbabwe have gone for over eight months without training and no competitive matches and now they want the mini-tournament finalised in two weeks, which means that clubs have got a lot of games to play inside a short space of time, this is to ask for bigger problems.
“There will be a lot of injuries and the national team coach will be forced to pick wrong players,” said De Jongh.
Zifa have been dithering on funding the bio-bubble with the association pressing to share the costs of the secluded camp with the Premiership clubs.
But as De Jongh observed, most clubs who rely heavily on gate takings have been plunged into financial crisis since the suspension of local game in March when Government announced a national lockdown as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Online Reporter