BONGANI MALUNGA
Township Rollers’ Zebras representatives will participate in two games in the space of 24 hours this weekend. The six Popa selected players will face Angola in an Independence Day friendly on Friday and travel to South Africa the next day for a club friendly against Premier Soccer League giants Kaizer Chiefs.
Kabelo Dambe, Mwampule Masule, Mosha Gaolaolwe, Bogosi Kaekwe, Joel Mogorosi and Lemponye Tshireletso will have no time to rest as they are scheduled to partake in two successive competitive games within a congested time frame.
The six players will not be afforded time to recover after the Angola match, and after the Kaizer Chiefs game they will begin their title defence with a game against Nico United on October 9. The club could be viewing the consecutive games as preparation for their league game against Nico given the prolonged and disrupted pre-season period local football has endured.
Township Rollers’ Bafana Pheto told Gazette Sport that they expect the players to participate in both games despite the gruelling schedule. “They will be available for both fixtures. Our national team selected players will take part in the Kaizer Chiefs game. We have arranged to travel to Johannesburg early on Saturday morning to enable our national team guys to travel with the team. It is a game we take seriously and we want all of our players to be available for selection,” explained Pheto.
Rollers will face the Soweto giants in Johannesburg at the FNB Stadium. Chiefs could be tempted to field a weakened team because they have already started their 2016/2017 season and they are wary of injury risks while eyeing top honours this season.