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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS and Dynamos’ aborted Botswana trip has only served to add to the Premier Soccer League’s fixture woes.

Bosso and DeMbare were scheduled to leave the country this morning to compete in a four-team Supa Power Cup in Francistown tomorrow, but organisers’ failure to honour contractual obligations forced the local giants to abort the trip.

The two teams had been cleared by Zifa and PSL to participate in the tournament that was going to see their players each pocketing P5 000 in appearance fees, while the clubs had been promised a chunk of revenue generated from the SMS voting platform.

Desperate for cash to cushion their players and boost club coffers, the two teams had agreed to participate in the tournament. Highlanders had said playing in Botswana was part of strengthening their brand by unlocking value.

The PSL had cancelled their Match Day 22 fixtures in which Highlanders were supposed to host Tsholotsho FC on Sunday, with Dynamos making the trip to Bulawayo for a date with How Mine.

Now that the two teams are no longer travelling to Botswana, it means this weekend unnecessarily goes to waste and adds to the piling fixture backlog.

Their efforts to have the postponed games played this weekend fell through, with the PSL saying it would be unfair to their opponents, who had put off training after being informed of the postponement.

The PSL says the games will now be played at a later date, probably during midweek.

“There’s nothing we can do other than have postponed games played at a later date.

“We had already communicated with the other clubs that their matches have been postponed and in the spirit of fair play, we had to stick to the programme we had sent out,” said Kudzai Bare, the PSL communications and media liaison officer.

The PSL is set for a tight second half of this season, with more midweek games set to be played to reduce backlog and accommodate cup tournaments.

The traditional Chibuku Super Cup, which involves all the league’s teams and whose winners earn the right to represent the country in the Caf Confederation Cup, is likely to be launched before the end of this month.

Following an increase in the number of teams from 16 to 18 at the beginning of the year, the league will hold play-offs for the bottom four teams to remain with 16 clubs for the cup.

This means the Chibuku Super Cup draw will only be done after all teams have played their outstanding fixtures.

Caps United, whose Caf Champions League campaign ended on July 9 when they lost 4-1 to Algeria’s USM Alger in a decisive group match, have a backlog of five games.

Caps’ outstanding matches are against Dynamos, Black Rhinos, Hwange, Bulawayo City and Highlanders.

This year, winners of the Premiership title will face the Chibuku Super Cup champions in the last game of the season.

“The last match of the season will be the PSL 25-year Celebration Cup to feature the league and cup champions. Our desire is to have finished the season by December,” Bare said.

Football associations are supposed to submit names of teams representing them in the Caf clubs’ competitions, the Champions League and Confederation Cup, by November 30.

With the domestic season likely to spill into December, Zimbabwe might apply for a late entry of their representatives. — @ZililoR.