The Warriors are scheduled to play Malawi on Saturday in the first of their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, before they take on lightweights Comoros in a 2016 African Nations Championships qualifier the following weekend.
PSL Chief Executive Officer, Kennedy Ndebele, said the break was meant to give The Warriors the best platform to succeed on the international front.
“We want clubs to release their players for international duty without worrying much about their own league games,” said Ndebele.
The former Highlanders chairman said allowing fixtures to go ahead during this period would disadvantage some teams and put others at an advantage, as clubs did not have the same number of players in the national team.
Apart from Malawi, Zimbabwe also have Guinea and Swaziland in the same group. Only the top side in the group will get a passage for the continental football festival and The Warriors are desperate to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals, after they missed out of the 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 tournaments.
Surprising, however, was that by Tuesday, the national team had not yet been assembled as Coach Kalisto Pasuwa had not committed himself to continue coaching the side before certain conditions were met.
Pasuwa, coaching both the Under-23 team and the senior team, had not yet been paid since he took over the teams at the beginning of this year. He was also demanding that his players be guaranteed that they would be paid their bonuses after turning out for the national team.
Post published in: Football