Will FC Platinum be ready for action?

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Acting Sports Editor
ONE thing that everybody knows is that a certain club called FC Platinum is a Zimbabwean club that competes in the Premier Soccer League. That same club has won the domestic title for the past three seasons and in the process winning the right to represent Zimbabwe in the Total Caf Champions League.

When competing in the continental jamboree, they will, at the same time be marketing brand Zimbabwe in all its form. Sports tourism is promoted. Zimbabwean football is promoted. That’s just how it is.

In two weeks’ time, the champions will be taking on Costa do Sol from Mozambique in a first leg preliminary round encounter before the two sides clash in the second and final leg back home.

The worrying thing is that the Zvishavane miners were last active on March 14 when they beat Highlanders in the Castle Challenge Cup and soon after that, the world was visited by an invisible enemy that saw football being shut down.

A number of lockdown restrictions were introduced by Governments and for football group training was banned here in Zimbabwe as a way to make sure the Covid-19 virus was contained.

In October, seven months after their last competitive match, Pure Platinum Play were allowed to resume group training to step up their preparations for the grueling Champions League football.

It was indeed a commendable decision by the Government through the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, whose decision was announced by the technical arm, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).
The boys have been training for close to a month now as the clock ticks towards the Mozambican trip where Costa do Sol lies in wait.

Now we all know that in football, coaches need to prepare thoroughly and all conditions must be afforded for them to achieve that goal.

With football in akimbo, it means coach Pieter De Jongh has not assessed his boys in a game situation, a key process towards a big match.

While a friendly match can not really be an ideal way to prepare for such an encounter, it is atleast better under the conditions than to jump straight into a high pressure game where some underlying injuries may also surface yet had the team had a few matches before the Maputo battle, the medical team could have had an opportunity to pick those injuries.

It is therefore paramount that FC Platinum is allowed to prepare for the match with full blessings and support from authorities. The club wanted to have a number of friendlies, especially in Mozambique but as of yesterday, they had not been granted permission. That is worrying.

There is a need to appreciate that FC Platinum is a Zimbabwean club that, at the moment, needs all the help it can get to properly prepare for the Champions League.

While it is important not to interfere with the duties of the national team coach, surely they could not have been a crime to ask him to consider some FC Platinum players for today’s Algerian encounter. But instead, the coach called up an attached Ovidy Karuru and King Nadolo from Dynamos.

The success of the Zvishavane headquartered club will be shared by the whole nation, same applies to the embarrassment of their failure which is why it is crucial that all avenues towards proper preparations be opened for them.