Chibuku venue worries Harrison
By Godknows Matarutse
Harare City coach Mark Harrison is not pleased that the Chibuku Super Cup final clash between his team and Triangle United this weekend has been pencilled for Gibbo Stadium.
The Sunshine Boys will travel to the Lowveld on Saturday to take on the Sugar Sugar Boys in their own backyard.
City are the most successful team in this competition having won it twice in the last four years.
However, Harrison believes that the fact that Triangle will be playing at home gives them an edge over his side.
“We will see about the Chibuku Super Cup final. In as far as I know, we are playing at Gibbo, so they (Triangle) have the advantage already.
“They have been given the chance to play at the home field, which I think is wrong, we should be playing at a neutral venue.
“We will probably go to that game as underdogs now seeing that they are playing at home. But we will go and see how it works.”
While Harrison might be concerned with the choice of venue, last year when City won the cup, they beat the now defunct How Mine 3-1 at Rufaro Stadium.
In that final, City were the home team while Chikurupati had to travel all the way from Bulawayo.
The Premier Soccer League’s (PSL) spokesperson Kudzai Bare said the decision to stage the final at Gibbo was reached in consultation with the sponsors.
“The decision for the venue of the final rests on the PSL in consultation with the sponsors,” Bare said.
“So in this case, we have noted the final has been to other parts of the country like Harare, Zvishavane and Mhondoro-Ngezi, so we saw it fit that it is played in Chiredzi this time around.”
When the Chibuku Super Cup returned in 2014, FC Platinum beat Harare City 2-1 in controversial circumstances in the final held at Mandava Stadium.
The following year, City finally got their hands on the silverware when they beat Dynamos 2-1 in the final at the National Sports Stadium.
In 2016, Ngezi Platinum Stars won the trophy after beating FC Platinum 3-1 in the final staged at Baobab Stadium. DailyNews
