By Onny Gangata
IN football terms,the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season is still very much young with just two rounds of matches having been played so far.
While it is too early to call who will eventually emerge as victors and those to be relegated at the end of the season, the newly promoted sides have the ignominy of having their names thrown around in the conversations regarding who will be relegated.
Gweru based outfit, Telone are probably one of the teams expected to be in the relegation matrix this season.
Given that they come from the ZIFA Central region soccer league – a league that has, in the past 10 seasons seen 12 teams go down- one cannot be at fault for mentioning the WiFi boys among relegation candidates.
The list of teams from the central region that have been relegated includes the now defunct Hardbody who went down in 2012,Tripple B (2013), Shabanie (2014),Whawha(2015).
Beitbridge based outfit Border Strikers(2016) are also part of the infamous list together with Nichrut and Shabanie both in 2018, Chapungu and Telone (2019). Whawha(2021/22) and Sheasham (2023) complete the list.
Only once in the past 10 seasons, in 2017, has there been no team from the central region that was relegated from the Premier Soccer League(PSL).
“This time we are not looking into that(relegation), we have put mechanisms in terms of our players, if you have depth it is achievable.We will survive relegation,” Telone coach, Tendai Chikuni said more in hope than expectation soon after the team’s squad unveiling in February.
True to Chikuni’s words, the Wifi boys seem to have learnt their lessons from their debut season in 2019 and have made a headstart this time around.
They have collected four points from two matches so far and Chikuni has targeted the first half of this season to accrue as many points as possible.
“We have only played two games, we want to keep picking points as we go, there are a lot of good teams in the mix but we need to pick as many points as possible in the first half of the season,” he said soon after his charges dispatched Manica Diamonds 3-1 on Saturday.
Chikuni has built his side around an experienced backline that has skipper, Trust Nyabinde,the central defensive pairing of veteran Eriya Mafirenyika and Admire Dzumbunu with Marvin Kwinjo covering the left side of the defence.
It is however, the lack of potency upfront that is giving the former FC Platinum coach headaches.His side has scored five goals but only one of those goals has been from his strikers.
“That’s our worry, i am happy for Bubu (Blessing Sibanda), he managed to score as a striker. In Kariba we scored two goals, both coming from set pieces and defenders at the end of the goals.I think what we are working at training should happen,”he added.
