Bosso start season preps

HIGHLANDERS began their 2017 pre-season preparations in earnest yesterday with goalkeepers' coach Cosmas "Tsano" Zulu taking the team through physical drills and ball work at Barbourfields Stadium.

Assistant coach Amini Soma-Phiri is in Harare attending a Caf A coaching licence course while head coach Erol Akbay is still on holiday in his native Netherlands and is expected back in Bulawayo early next month.

"We are retaining all members of the technical teams from the juniors up to the first team, hence the beginning of our pre-season under Zulu in the absence of both the head and assistant coach," said club secretary-general Emmett Ndlovu.

Ndlovu said the coaches were, however, yet to sign new contracts as they were still ironing out a few minor details.

Highlanders have four junior teams, the Under-14s coached by Dan Ngwenya, Under-16s under Sizabantu Khoza, while Gift Lunga Jr heads the Under-18 side and Melusi "Mabaleka" Sibanda is in charge of the Division One outfit.

Ndlovu said only contracted players would attend the training sessions for now until the arrival of Akbay, while the issue of targeted players would be addressed at the club's first 2017 press conference tomorrow.

Hwange defender Tonisani Sibelo has already set his eyes on joining Bosso and is expected to start training on February 10, a week after Akbay's arrival.

Meanwhile, the Bosso first team began its pre-season preparations without going through the prerequisite medical assessment to ascertain the players' health after more than a month and a half of inactivity since the departure of Dr Xolani Ndlovu.

Some players usually play social games during the off-season and pick up knocks that they conceal until the start of the season only for them to be sidelined for most of the season while remaining on the payroll, since they would have been injured on duty.

A number of Highlanders' players were sidelined for weeks last season after picking up injuries week in and week out as the medical team struggled to deal with the situation.