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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN players in the South African Premiership are excited at the prospects of getting to play football again.
This follows the announcement by the country’s football authorities yesterday that action will resume next week.
The Absa Premiership, which has been in limbo since March because of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, is set to resume on August 8 with the Nedbank Cup semi-finals.
The Premier Soccer League said the remaining seven rounds of the league games will get underway, three days later, in a marathon programme that is expected to conclude by early September. Former Warriors number one goalkeeper, George Chigova, told The Herald from his base in South Africa yesterday, the last few months have been tough on them.
Players have lost out on income, while clubs have also suffered huge financial losses.
The uncertainty, over whether the league will be completed, or not, has been a major source of concern.
“I’m feeling happy now we know that we going to resume our games,” said Chigova.
“It’s been tough for the last four months; not doing what we love most but now we are happy that we going to be able to finish the games.
“During the lockdown they gave us programmes to follow and we were doing training sessions via the zoom app.
“But, since we started training as a team, three weeks ago, we have been working to prepare for the games.”
His team Polokwane City will be engaged in a fierce battle for survival after they dropped into 14th place when the games were stopped in March. A full fixture list will be revealed in the coming days.
The football authorities have revealed the remaining 54 league matches will be played behind closed doors in Gauteng, as part of the measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The Supa Disk clubs have complied with the government’s health regulations to ensure games resume.
Players and officials have undergone mandatory tests with SuperSport United, Mamelodi Sundowns, Cape Town FC, Bloemfontein Celtics and Kaizer Chiefs all reporting some positive cases in their camps.
The players and officials have since made full recovery but SuperSport reported last week that one of their players was still in isolation.
Kaizer Chiefs, where Zimbabweans Khama Billiat and Willard Katsande ply their trade, lead the title race with a four-point advantage over rivals Mamelodi Sundowns, who have one match in hand.
Katsande believes the title is theirs to lose.
He told Cape Talk Radio his side were ready for restart.
“Obviously, we are very much aware about the teams coming for the same title but we are in control at the moment,’’ said Katsande.
“When you sign for Kaizer Chiefs you know you are actually signing to deal with pressure and situations like these.
“So, it’s up to us because we can only control the games that we play as Kaizer Chiefs.
“We are not going to look at how our neighbours are doing.
“All we can focus on is the game that we play at that particular time, that is the most important game.
“We throw in everything, sharpen our swords, go for a fight, be victorious, go back to the drawing board and then focus on the next game.”
He said the team’s fitness was excellent, despite the covid-19 lockdown restrictions, which disrupted normal training in the last four months.
“In terms of my fitness, and our fitness as a team, during this lockdown, it’s just that we were not training physically together but we had programmes and we used to do gym (sessions) via zoom.
“We used a running application whereby the fitness coach will be tracking your speed and so forth.
“So, in terms of fitness, we are not very far because we have now started week number four training, as a team, and it’s actually improving.
“The only thing that we didn’t have was the feeling of the ball.
“Other than that, we are very much fit. But, we wanted to be involved with football and also try to make some combinations work out so that we hit the ground running as quickly as possible.’’
Online Reporter