Giants get pre-season underway
THE first blows of what promises to be a bruising domestic football season will be thrown in Harare tomorrow when the capital's football giants battle for honours in the ZNA Charities tournament.
League champions CAPS United, who this week qualified for the final qualifier for the group stages of the CAF Champions League, have a date against bitter rivals Dynamos at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow.
FC Platinum were set to face a High- landers side boosted by the signing of Rodreck Mutuma in the other semi-final tomorrow but reports last night said the match had been postponed because of a waterlogged pitch at Barbourfields.
DeMbare have been on a rebuilding exercise, with coach Lloyd Mutasa assembling a team of young players which is being built around midfielder Denver Mukamba, as the Glamour Boys try to find a way out of the darkness.
The Dynamos camp believe they have the right balance to make a big impression this season after a nightmarish campaign last year in which they watched, from a distance, as Make- pekepe were crowned champions.
The big match tomorrow will also see former DeMbare talisman, Ronald “Rooney” Chitiyo taking on his old paymasters after signing for the Green Machine.
Chitiyo turned himself into the darling of his new fans by scoring the winning goal in their Champions League tie against Lioli of Lesotho.
Our Bulawayo Bureau reported yesterday that the Bosso/FC FC Platinum match was hanging in the balance due to incessant rains that have left Barbourfields waterlogged.
There were indications the match could be shifted to Luveve, which has better drainage than Barbourfields, although the grass there still needed to be cut while tents had to be erected at the VIP sitting area.
The poor drainage system at Barbourfields further vindicates Sport and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane's view, which he expressed recently that contractors hired to renovate various sports facilities ahead of the 2014 African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Games did a shoddy job.
The facility was handed over to the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing for the massive renovation project on September 30, 2014.
Changes that should have been made included the addition of two more dressing rooms and extension of the existing ones, while the VIP section saw 120 bucket seats being erected over and above the work on the drainage system.
But a mere two years later the facility's drainage system seems worse off with mere showers rendering the playing field unplayable.
A visit by a Chronicle news crew on Thursday afternoon found the whole area, even the outside grounds water- logged.
The Met Department have already said rains will continue pounding the country for the next 10 days.
On Wednesday Highlanders and Bulawayo City had to play their training friendly match at the outside grounds.
However, that did not stop the army in their preparations for the 2017 edition of the tournament that has been dominated by the Bulawayo giants since 2015.
Highlanders are the defending champions of the Army Charities Shield after beating Harare City last year.
They also won the trophy in 2015.