By Petros Kausiyo
SUDANESE giants El Merreikh have joined in the dispute between Zifa and the Confederation of African Football by setting conditions for their Champions League first round, first leg clash against FC Platinum at Mandava.
There has been a flurry of communication between Zifa and Caf since last Thursday when the continental soccer governing body ordered that the association needed to find an alternative venue that is not in Zvishavane, which is more than 200km from Harare and is not accessible by air.
Caf, basing their order on damning reports by the referee and match commissioner who handled the FC Platinum against Green Mamba preliminary round tie at Mandava, directed that Zifa needed to find an alternative venue for the remainder of the campaign.
Zifa have, however, appealed against the ban and maintained that the platinum miners had already invested a lot in ensuring that the facilities at the stadium met the Caf and Fifa standards.
While Caf stressed that they do not have any qualms with the stadium and its facilities, it is on the distance between the capital and Zvishavane which they have a problem with as they have established that that there is no air link between Harare and the mining town.
Caf, citing Article 5 paragraph 4 of their rules and regulations, remained adamant that they were not going to change their decision and on Monday gave Zifa a 48-hour ultimatum to come up with an alternative venue in the capital or, if not, in a city that is acceptable to the opponents.
But, just as Zifa were still awaiting feedback from Caf for a raft or proposals they had made to salvage the game from being taken away from Mandava, El Merreikh joined in the fray by indicating that they would be expecting to be flown to Zvishavane if the game is to be played at Mandava.
Merreikh made their conditions known through communication that was sent by the Sudan Football Association to Zifa yesterday.
SFA general-secretary Magdi Shams Eldin told his Zifa counterpart Jonathan Mashingaidze that the El Merreikh delegation would arrive in Harare on March 20 after which they expect to connect by air to Zvishavane.
“With reference to our letter dated 7th March 2012 and relating to the said match (Platinum vs El Merreikh) we would like to inform you that the Al Merreikh Sports Club delegation will arrive from Addis Ababa to Harare on 20 March 2012 by Ethiopian airlines flight No.883 at 12.45.
“Please arrange the domestic flight directly to Zvishavane city in which the match will be played,’’ wrote Eldin. Mashingaidze said they had also advised the Sudanese about the arrangement to fly them to Masvingo from where they would then access Mandava by road.
The Zifa chief executive said although Caf had not yet responded to their latest proposal, they had also sought to convince the Sudanese champions about the plan that would ensure the El Merreikh delegation would not travel more than 200km by road to the match venue.
This Mashingaidze said would ensure “a win-win’’ scenario for all the parties concerned with the March 24 encounter.
“We have since advised the Sudanese that a facility has been made to fly them from Harare to Masvingo because the hotel in Zvishavane is still undergoing renovations. They can train in Masvingo and access the match venue a day before.
“Although it is a 90km distance, they will be under police escort on all occasions which means that even their road trip will not be more than 30 minutes to get to the match venue.
“We believe that both the Sudan Football Association and El Merreikh will understand this position and that even Caf will not have any further objections to the efforts that have been made to address their concerns,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Ironically this is not the first time that El Merreikh’s visit to Zimbabwe has courted controversy.
On their last visit for a Champions League assignment against Highlanders in 2007, which should have been staged at Barbourfields, El Merreikh benefited from a blunder by the Bosso executive, which sought to cut costs, and opted to play at Gwanzura.
It was the Bosso executive’s contention then that they did not have money to fly the Sudanese champions to Bulawayo and back to Harare and reckoned it was cost effective for them to have their own team drive to the capital for the match as they would do for their league assignments.
The Highlanders fans, angry with that decision, literally boycotted the game at Gwanzura and Bosso looked more like an away team as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat in Harare that virtually ended their Champions League interests that year.
As if fate would have it, El Merreikh this time with the helping hand of Caf could play Zimbabwean opponents who will be at “home away from home”.
