The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
Sports Reporter
AFTER enduring over 300 days without playing competitive football, anxious Premier Soccer League players are cautiously excited with news that group training could finally return this week.
The bulk of them, save for FC Platinum and Highlanders players who clashed in the Castle Challenge Cup on March 14, have not played any competitive match since December 15, 2019, when the season ended.
Football has been suspended since March, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Government has now given the go-ahead for the game to return, albeit with strict health conditions.
One of the key conditions is that all the players are tested for Covid-19 before training resumes ahead of a proposed mini-league tournament to be played using the bio-bubble concept.
After a false start to the bio-bubble concept, players should now be tested and start training this week after ZIFA finally paid for the Covid-19 test kits.
According to the ZIFA and PSL Sports Medicine Committee chairman, Edward Chagonda, training of doctors who will conduct the countrywide tests began yesterday.
“The kits are ready, but we are still finalising the logistics before we start the testing of players. This is a countrywide exercise that is a bit taxing, but we are almost there.
“I don’t want to give a time frame, but what I can tell you is that training of doctors starts this weekend (yesterday).
“We have identified doctors who will undergo the three-hour training course on how to conduct these tests,” said Chagonda.
This is the kind of news that has tickled an anxious lot of the Premiership players, some of whom shared their joy with The Sunday Mail Sport.
“It’s a good development for everyone who survives on soccer,” said CAPS United winger, Phineas Bamusi.
“We are curious to know what will happen because we can’t wait to play again. I hope everyone involved in making sure football returns has their hands on the deck.
“As players it has been a painful period for us, it has been difficult to adjust to the new normal. We are used to playing football and this is our profession.
“But Covid-19 is a global disaster and there was nothing we could do other than follow the regulations.
“Now that football is about to return it’s good for everyone, for supporters, players and coaches.
“Waking up and staying at home was becoming boring, we ended up trying to do some things to keep going”.
Dynamos right-back, Emmanuel Jalai, was ecstatic when he first heard about the news on Friday.
“It is almost eight months now without playing football or training as a group and this is strange for us footballers to go for such a long period off the field.
“I’m used to playing football week in, week out so the return of football will be a good thing for us as footballers.
“The situation was now forcing some players to try out other things just to eke a decent living. It was not easy though as you can see things are tough so we had to adjust to the situation by doing other things to stay afloat,” said Jalai.
Highlanders’ midfielder, Nqobizitha Masuku, thinks it will be a “disaster” if football does not return before the end of the year.
“Hunger for football is killing us now. Obvious, we are happy with the news because we have been inactive for some time. It would have been a disaster for us if we finished the whole year without playing football.
“I am hoping everything goes according to plan and we start playing,” Masuku said.
In the Lowveld, Triangle United players are enthusiastic, as revealed by giant goalkeeper Talbert Shumba.
“We are excited about the return of football because we have been missing what we love most. We were doing these individual training drills at home, but we missed the real thing. As you know it is hard to separate footballers from exercising,” said Shumba.
The Warriors fringe goalkeeper is reportedly being tracked by two Zambian clubs — Nkana Red Devils and Napsa Stars.
Underrated ZPC Kariba left-back, Talent Chamboko, regrets the time lost as he had targeted to impress and earn a “big move” during the 2020 season.
“I felt that I was in fantastic shape when all of a sudden, football was stopped. I feel 2020 could have been my season, but its nature, we have to think about our lives first, but I was disappointed.
“Football being our life, I can’t wait to be back on the field again,” Chamboko said.
Highly-rated striker Paddington Nyamakura, who made a big move to Chicken Inn from Yadah at the beginning of the year, is itching to regain full fitness.
“It was hard to go for long that long without playing the game, but at least we tried to keep fit during the lockdown period.
“We will now try to adjust to the normal training for us to regain match fitness,” said the power-play striker, who is highly-regarded by Chicken Inn gaffer Joey Antipas.
Highfield-based Herentals midfielder and Tino Kadewere’s childhood friend, Tinashe Mhuru, paid tribute to late coach Prince Kadewere for taking care of his training, before his death.
“I kept on practicing and training alone using some of the drills and ideas I got from the late Prince Kadewere.
“His death affected me so much, but I will not give up until I become one of the best players in the league, because that was one of the late Kadewere’s wishes.
“I want to thank the Herentals family for supporting me financially during these trying times.
“However, the absence of football gave me time to recover from my pre-season injury, so I am now fit and ready to play.
“Last season I didn’t have much game time because of competition in midfield, where we had Juan Mutudza and Richard Hachiro commanding first team jerseys. Their departure (to Dynamos and CAPS United respectively) has opened up an opportunity for me.
“Above all, I give all the credit to my best and childhood friend Tinotenda Kadewere who keeps on encouraging me to work hard,” said Mhuru.
