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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
HE is not one to hide his feelings and speaks his mind all the time.

Since his arrival in Zimbabwe, first as Highlanders’ coach for only four months before dumping the black-and-white army for champions FC Platinum in January, Hendrick Pieter de Jongh has never been shy to air his views.

Zifa is pushing for the Premier Soccer League to start in mid-October and is targeting next Wednesday as the day to resume group training.

The Dutchman took to Twitter to question the decision to resume league action hurriedly without enough preparation.

“How is it possible, preparation for only four weeks and then you want to start with the league. Preparation needs a minimum of six weeks and now after more than six months with no training with the team, it is best to have eight weeks preparation,” De Jongh tweeted.

The Dutchman has a point though. While it’s no secret that everyone misses football, it’s important to follow all necessary measures to ensure a safe return to competition for the players.

Four weeks may not be enough time to prepare given that their physical and mental situation is unknown.

Incidences of non-contact-related injuries has increased significantly in the past decade, particularly in athletes that return to training after a long period of inactivity as is the case now.

Sports scientists argue that strength and conditioning sessions must be appropriately designed and implemented for players.

The most clear danger for coaches post-lockdown will be to assume that everybody adhered to the individual training programmes they were given at the start of the lockdown.

It will be critical for coaches to address individual deficiencies and strengths rather than treating players as a collective group and this approach might need more time.

Just yesterday Caf released dates for the Chan finals, a tournament for only domestic league based players. The tournament will take place in Cameroon in January next year.

The headache for Zimbabwe is to assemble a team when there has been no football played in the country this year.

Zifa finds itself in fix, which perhaps explains why it’s trying to push for a restart next month.

Much of the pressure could also be coming from the return of international football in November.

Zimbabwe is scheduled to play back-to-back fixtures against Algeria in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Zifa has submitted its request for the resumption of football with the Sports and Recreation Commission, which, however, made it clear earlier in the week that football will not be given any preferential treatment in the decision-making.

To make matters worse, the PSL has also ruled out the possibility of the league starting next month, thereby placing football resumption into further doubt. – @innocentskizoe