Good morning guys
Preseason is well and truly underway, and the Tico Select Tournament is, well, very much ongoing. Perhaps I can offer a word of advice to the organizers. These back-to-back fixtures every single day of the tournament make no sense. It would not hurt to insert a day of rest between games.
Maybe the goal is to cut costs on hotel stays and team feeding, but who says every team must play all others in their group? It does not always have to be a league format. You can schedule matches every other day and allow teams to train on the days in between.
I do not have any personal interest in this competition, but you will always blame yourself if you knew better and said nothing. This is preseason, and it would be a shame to lose players to injury from such an intense workload. And to be honest, there are no guarantees anyone is covering the medical bills if that happens… never mind.
Meanwhile, Enyimba have the duo of Stanley Dimgba and Joseph Atule back at the club. Dimgba was in the matchday squad that beat Excellent FA 2–0 yesterday. He actually started the game, which would have given the gaffer a proper look at him.
We are still waiting to face tougher opposition. That was meant to come from the game against Heartland, but heavy rainfall on the day led to its postponement. And because the schedule is packed with no rest days, there is now a bottleneck.
The team has been completely overhauled, and there are new faces all over the pitch. The most optimistic fan will hope that we have unearthed the best talents around. But we know that is not how football works. In about a month, we will start to understand the consequences of our transfer decisions.
You will hope that the likes of Atule, Eze, and Dimgba bring leadership, guidance, and experience to this group. So whether or not you agree with the reason for their return, the fact remains that they are likely to play key roles for us this season.
Enyimba has always been a revolving door when it comes to players. We have lost quality before. Perhaps we are lucky this time and we have found worthy replacements. Or maybe not, and we will be holding mid-season trials again, sitting somewhere between tenth and fifteenth after already playing most of our games.
May the will of our enemies not prevail.
Back tomorrow
‘EnyimbaEnyi
