Macdonald Nginde Mtetemera said the fixtures are not managed professionally as the health of the players is not taken into consideration when arranging the games.
Chitipa United are one of the teams that have been very busy for the past two weeks, playing two away games in the super league against FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and Civil Service United before having a stop on their way back home at Rumphi Stadium to play against Red Devils in the Castel Challenge Cup.
The Inkhalamu Zga Ku Chitipa are returning to actions this afternoon as they face Silver Strikers in the super league before playing Moyale Barracks in Rumphi on Sunday.
Commenting on the fixture congestion, Nginde said it is not healthy for the players to play five games within a space of two weeks including travelling.
“Not as a Chitipa United Coach, but as a teacher, personally, u don’t see it healthy for the players to play five games in 14 days,” he said. “Even those who are making the fixtures, are not doing what is supposed to be done.
“We can’t play five games within 14 days and travelling for that matter. We travelled to Blantyre [to play against Bullets,] then we came to Lilongwe [to play against Civil] and we were in Rumphi [where we played against Red Devils] and today we are playing against Silver Strikers, then we have to travel back to Rumphi, from Chitipa, is it professional?
“We are not saying that we can’t travel, we can travel but the health of players have to be a priority. Is it healthy for the team? Am not happy with that, unless those who are doing it, have to sit down and think about the health of our players. This is not good. We travel the whole night, and then we train in the afternoon and the next day, we play another game, is that fair?”
Chitipa United have become the second team to complain about the fixture congestion after FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Head Coach, Kalisto Pasuwa called for the authorities to consider giving them time to rest after playing 9 games in four weeks.
The Inkhalamu Zga ku Chitipa welcoming the Central Bankers who are coming from a barren stalemate against Karonga United in their previous game while Chitipa United have had mixed results in their previous three games, a defeat to Bullets, a draw to Civil and a win over Red Devils where they scored seven goals.
They are one of the teams that are still unbeaten at home so far with both Blantyre based giants, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers and FCB Nyasa Big Bullets failing to get all the points at Karonga Stadium. Bullets were beaten 1-0 while Wanderers settled for a point.
Macdonald Nginde Mtetemera is facing the team that sacked hon two years ago and he is optimistic that his boys will score goals when they face off this afternoon.
“Yah, we have prepared very well. We have not been scoring many goals in the past. When we went to Blantyre, we failed to score and we lost the game. We came to Lilongwe to play Civil Service United two days later and we drew 0-0. We don’t even score. But we scored seven goals against Red Devils after talking to the guys that we need to score. We had two, three training sessions on shooting and finishing and the guys did it well in that cup game.
“I am very optimistic that what we did against Devils, we will repeat it during our game against Silver Strikers and I am hopeful that the guys will use the hints that we told them to score more goals against Silver,” he added.
The two teams settled for a point each after a barren draw in the first round in Lilongwe and only three points put them apart with Silver Strikers occupying the third spot on the table while Chitipa United are fourth. Pieter De Jongh’s Bankers have 47 points from 26 outings while Chitipa have 44 from the same number of games.
In another mid-week game, Red Lions and Ekwendeni Hammers are facing off in the relegation battle with the Iron Boys travelling to Balaka stadium.
Red Lions are coming a 2-1 win over Extreme FC while Hammers” last league game was against FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in a game which ended 1-all. The Zomba based Soldiers are languished to the bottom three of the table with 25 points from 27 games and they are in jungle dogging for the much-needed victory for them to escape the relegation chop while Hammers are 13th with 30 points and they will be looking to get their second win in the second round to move into the top 10.
