Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Kicks-Off


By Perkins Bare
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season kicks-off into action this weekend with defending champions Chicken Inn start off their title defence woth a tie against Dynamos out at Barboufields stadium whilst Highlanders start off their League campaign wuith a tie against Hwange out at the Colliery. Matchday 1 will start off on Friday with Bulawayo City taking on How Mine in a Bulawayo derby out at White City stadium and new How Mine coach Kelvin Kaindu will be looking forward to get his campaign off to a winning start.

The PSL was forced to start the League programme late as the football calender for March was congested with two clubs being involved in continental action whilst the national team the Warriors also had back to back Africa cup Of Nations Qualifiers to play against Swaziland. The 2016 season finally kicks off ands we go into this season with two of the biggest clubs in the land Dynamos and Highlanders once again having new coaches in Paulo Jorge Silva for Dynamos and Elroy Akbay for Bosso.

FC Platinum also take on stubborn boys Tsholotsho FC out at Mandava and Norman Mapeza will also want to get his campaign to a good start especially the additions that were made.

Chicken Inn are obviously a team to watch out for going into this season by virtue of them being the defending champions and also beacuase of the fact that they were able to maintain the bulk of their squad from last season. They were also able to add some vital players to their squad in Teenage Hadebe who came in from Highlanders. They already do have a strong squad with the likes of Passmore Bernard, Danny Phiri, Moses Demera, Tafadzwa kutinyu the regular felons are all there folks and this is why I`d say they should go into this season as favourinte to retain the title.

FC Platinum will also go into the season as favourites as they fell short but they do have a strong squad which should be able to do the business. The presence of Kelvin Kaindu out at How Mine alos makes them favourites as he made an early charge for the title with Triangle but fell short. Kaindu surely knows how to charge for the title but he then just falls short but his time around it will be different with him having the resources at How mine which has allowed him to bring in the players he did.

Dynamos are going to go in as usual faviourites by virtue of them being perennial champions and they withnthe size of the club itsle Paulo Jorge Silva goes in with the burden high ex[pectations as the fans expect nothing less than the league title. Caps United are still to get it together with their squad and their shake-up of the adminstration which saw them changing their kit sponsor. Bosso on the other hand should be content with a top four finish and any higher expectations than these would be unfair to the coach cause Highlanders has done nothing in terms of investing into their squad despite them losing their best players from last season.
The teams who should feel pressured are of course Harare City which has been investing a lot on players and also How Mine who roped in a total of 7 players with a Zambian also being lured by the presence of their new gaffer Kelvin Kaindu. They brought in the likes of Kudzai Chideu from Dongo Sawmill, Marshal Machazane from WhaWha, former FC Platinum player Qadir Amin and also Pasca Manhanga. Kaindu was confident that his team`s preparations had gone well “Our preparations have been going on very well. The new guys have settled in very well and the gelling has not been bad,” Kaindu said yesterday. “The guys have done well and we are likely to use some of them tomorrow [today]. We are ready for the season and we are not taking anything away from Bulawayo City who are coming from Division One” Kaindu said in an interview with a local daily.
Dynamos and Highlanders also go into this season with new gaffers once again after they both sacked their coaches last season and it is left to be seen on the field of play as to which team made the wiser choice. Dynamos hired Portuguese coach Paulo Jorge Silva who already made headlines in his scuffle with journalists over his papers. There was immense resistance last season from the Highlanders faithfuls after Cosmas Zulu and Amin Soma Phiri had somewhat rescued a season to forget for the Bulawayo giants scooping up the Easycall Cup. Bosso opted for a Dutch coach in Elroy Akbay who will go into this season with a relatively young squad after they lost most of their players in Teenage Hadebe and Knox Mutizwa who signed for Bidvest Wits.

Bosso however has a strong junior policy which then gives them the liberty to still maintaion a decnt squad despite them losing their best crop evry season. Inm their squad released it included four strikers Ralph 'Banolila' Matema, Knox Mutizwa who`s stilol to link up with his team, Gabriel Nyoni and theyalso added two strikers in the juniors’ quota, Prince Dube and McCarthy Dube.

The pre-season friendlies saw Dynamos going for a tour to Malawi with Caps United also hosting the Zambian clubs. As for the tournaments there was not much of action and Highlandersd are still in the ZNA charity shield which muight be a good sign for them whilst Chicken Ionn also showed that it wasn`t just a fluke after they ended Sundowns unbeaten run in the Caf Champions League first leg encounter.



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