NO RUFARO HOMECOMING FOR THE GREEN MACHINE

CAPS United trained at Rufaro yesterday but they will have to open their Castle Lager Premiership campaign on neutral soil when they take on Chicken Inn at Bata in Gweru tomorrow.

Once again, the stadium madness, which at times has turned the PSL into a joke, continues to cause problems in the top-flight league.

The Green Machine have been pushing to host the Gamecocks at Rufaro but the spiritual home of domestic football is yet to be approved to host top-flight league matches. Coach Lloyd Chitembwe is not a happy man.

“We really want to play our home fixtures in Harare and it just feels good to play at Rufaro.

“I think the playing field is looking better, I don’t think there is any player who will have a problem with this venue.

“I don’t know much about other boxes which are expected to be ticked and I can’t comment on that but all I can say is we can’t wait to start playing here,” said Chitembwe.

He said the stadium crisis was damaging domestic football.

“It reminds people about our level of lack of professionalism because it’s unacceptable to go this long without knowing the venue of our fixture.

“It tells you that we still have a long way to go in as far as professionalism is concerned.

“I think it’s good that we are finally going to be tested because the game situation is what the players and coaches prefer most of the time.”

He added:

“A real competitive game will help us to open our eyes and guide us on how we need to approach each and every game.

“Chicken Inn are not in this league to make up numbers, they can be tricky customers on their day but they are also a team with weaknesses.

“Every team has strengths and weakness, so we are going to approach this game knowing that we also have our chances of winning this game.

“We had a good start last season and, after the break, nothing was the same we had our challenges and we also ended the season well.

“It’s now water under the bridge, our focus is now on how best we can tackle this season and avoid the mistakes we had in the last campaign.”

Joey Antipas is back as the Gamecocks head coach and it will be a tough reunion for Clive Augusto, Thulani Joseph and Lincon Mangaira, who are now on the books of Chicken Inn.

Joseph was CAPS United’s best player last season.