De Jong praises midfield star

FC PLATINUM coach, Hendrikus Pieter De Jongh, has described new acquisition, Brian Banda, as a box- to- box wonder boy who will help their CAF Champions League cause.

Banda linked up with his former Highlanders boss last week.

“We have added Brian Banda in the team and I am very impressed by his attitude,’’ the Dutchman said. “He is a massive team player who will bring depth to the squad.

“He is a box- to- box player who oils up play efficiently.

“He is a good addition and we look forward to the CAF Champions League, with him as one of the key men in the squad.”

De Jongh said he was happy with the overall attitude being displayed by the rest of his squad.

“I am happy with what the team is doing at the moment. The general atmosphere is quite encouraging. The players are in good spirit and raring to go,’’ he said.

“We have been training once a day, since Saturday last week, so as to loosen the players’ muscles which had gone for over seven months without proper training and competition.

“Going into the second week, we will now start loading the players and we will introduce a different training routine.

“I am very happy that the players have not been cheating us, as well as themselves, during the seven month forced break they endured as a result of the Covid- 19 outbreak.

“Most of them are very fit. We were actually worried that we could end up having more injuries at the training ground but, that is not the case.

“The players were adhering to their individual programmes, which we gave them to work on.”

Meanwhile, the Zvishavane club are yet to decide where they will host their CAF Champions League home matches with reports that Barbourfields, which they have used for the two previous campaigns, has been condemned by CAF.

While Barbourfields cannot host matches, involving the Warriors, the stadium had already been given the greenlight to stage youth international games and those involving the country’s women national teams.

Therefore, there could still be a possibility that, even though the stadium cannot be used to host matches featuring the Warriors, it could be allowed to stage Champions League matches.

The National Sports Stadium has been handed a reprieve ahead of the Warriors’ back- to- back AFCON qualifiers against Algeria next month.