The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi’s FOOTY FOOTNOTES
THERE absolutely has been nothing sweet about the Sugar Sugar Boys’ recent past matches. Triangle’s football world and all that they had built over the course of the season came crashing down on them in a space of seven days following a wretched run with patchy results which effectively ruined their campaign.
Still smarting from their elimination from the CAF Confederation Cup against FC Nouadhibou of Mauritania on a Sunday, the Lowveld side were thrown into battle to defend their Chibuku Super Cup crown against Harare City the following Wednesday.
They were vanquished and crashed out. On Saturday of the same week, the club would nurse more misery as they went down to championship-chasing Chicken Inn in a league duel. Put simply, Triangle were involved in three assignments over the period of one week, averaging a game after every two days.
Phew! Now that is a bit hectic for a club that had hitherto been competing on three fronts and suddenly found itself on the wayside licking their wounds from a brief but abrupt abortive spell.
It must have been bitter to take for the sugar processors.
That Triangle would experience a fixture pile-up following their triple-pronged hunt was always coming and inevitable, but it is how the fixtures were intermittently rescheduled that has left sympathisers and neutrals alike feeling that the local football chiefs, perhaps inadvertently, played hardball on them. Sadly, the boys had to bear the full brunt and paid dearly.
While they had already fallen off the pace in the league marathon and were ostensibly not good enough to make the group stages in the Africa safari it is in the domestic knockout tournament that last term’s champions felt they got a raw deal.
Triangle trainer Taurai Mangwiro was peeved and poured his heart out. “Honestly speaking, I don’t think we were given a chance to defend the trophy [Chibuku Super Cup].
That is the honest truth because how does one explain such a fixture for a team which is representing the country? We played on Sunday in Bulawayo in the CAF Confederation Cup and we were supposed to go back home in Triangle on Monday then drive again on Tuesday to Harare for this match on Wednesday [quarter-final against Harare City]. We have not been given a chance to prepare for the game, not even a single day to conduct a training session. I am not a magician,” he vented his frustration in a post-match interview with our sister newspaper The Herald.
From traversing the continent, they returned home to a knockout blow in a cup competition and are in jeopardy of their games-in-hand in the title fight coming to naught. As it stands, a respectable finish in the league marathon now genuinely appears to be their revised, realistic target and face saver for the season.
And from a casual glance of Triangle’s curious case it looks like their multiple commitments have gravely cost the team and the size of the fight in them was not enormous enough to see them last the distance in all competitions.
Some commentators leapt to Mangwiro and his boys’ defence, positing that local teams do not have the wherewithal as well as structures and squads to undertake such rigorous activity. As such the club deserved better treatment.
Not anything preferential, but just evenhandedness and their issue could have been handled differently. In the end, those fighting in Triangle’s corner further argue, the playing field was left undulating.
Perhaps to lend credence to Triangle’s concerns, albeit on a different spectrum, Highlanders coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh recently queried the warped wisdom to play league games during the same weekend the Warriors were in action agaunst Botswana’s Zebras, yet other professional confederations across the globe suspend their league programme as per Fifa sanctions.
Even the senior men’s side gaffer Joey Antipas waded into the consternation and also added his voice to the growing chorus of disapproval, describing it as “this whole thing is a mess”.
Similarly, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recently expressed reservations about how the Europeans champions’ participation in the Club World Cup and League Cup were conflicting due to fixture dates and briefly once toyed with the idea of pulling the Reds out of the latter competition but later resolved to use two different squads for both competitions.
As we ponder on what could have been, would things have panned out in a different way if Triangle’s concerns had been considered and redressed?
If it is about football that you care let’s share the cheer because we are made for the game, mad about the game!
Feedback:
The Gusha Boys (Mutare City Rovers) are making us proud with the way they have been performing and they need our support all the time. Surely, the team is moving in a positive direction and as a soccer-loving fan I am really impressed because they have a number of good players. Also, the Manica Diamonds fan base is growing everyday and my desire is to see more football clubs emerge from Manicaland and compete in the Premiership next season.
Moffat Mungazi, keep the kettle boiling; your column is all the worthwhile reading and I am following and supporting it always. – Terrence Mwedzi, South Africa.
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I am a true soccer fan and happy with the way Highlanders coach Hendrik Pieter de Jongh has transformed the side. They are doing good and full credit to them. It is worth appreciating.
For a team that was fighting relegation for much of the season, to have moved into the top half of the table is great. The Bosso gaffer is adding value to our game. – Tawanda Mhlanga, Dangamvura.
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