In a rather unusual turn of events, a player has revealed that the owner of his club purposely left them stranded hours away from home after losing a match.
It now said that five FC Wangu Mazodze players in Zimbabwe were left stranded at Rudhaka Stadium in Maromdera after the owner, Richard Mazodze, called to say that the five of them should be left behind.
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The boss ordered their immediate suspension after a 2-0 defeat to FC Hunters and barred them from boarding the team bus as a result.
Full-time result! pic.twitter.com/iso0u5AHNA
— FC Wangu Mazodze (@FcWangu) November 3, 2024
Mazodze is said to have made the call via Zoom, as he was in the United States at the time of the games and the team bus did leave them behind for close to two hours without explanation, although the players believed they were being suspected of match-fixing.
FC Mazodze were top of the table in August with a 14-point lead, but the team's poor form has seen their lead at the summit drop to just two points in the Zimbabwean second-tier, risking their hopes of promotion.
According to Soccer24, one player anonymously told the publication: "After the game, the boss (Mazodze) called via Zoom and spoke with our leadership and the five of us were told we are not going on the bus with others as we had been suspended," said the player.
"I'm not sure about their reasons but we just thought they believed we didn't play well, to the point of suspecting match fixing.
"Diago (Makurumidze) in particular, missed a good chance to score hence he was included on the list.
"However, after about two hours, they returned to pick us up but we are still not happy with what happened because you cannot treat professional footballers like that."
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