United States-based FC Wangu Mazodze owner, Richard Mazodze, reportedly ordered club officials to leave five players at Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera and bar them from boarding the team bus following their 2-0 defeat to FC Hunters on Sunday.
According to Soccer24, the players, including former CAPS United midfielder Diago Makurumidze, were suspended and left stranded in Marondera for nearly two hours at Mazodze’s orders.
Mazodze, who was in the United States, held a post-match Zoom meeting with club officials where he issued the suspension directive.
One of the affected players, speaking to Soccer24 on condition of anonymity, confirmed that they were left behind based on Mazodze’s order. He said:
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.
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.
The Eastern Region Soccer League leaders, who once held a commanding 14-point lead at the top of the table in August, have now faltered and see their advantage reduced to just two points in the race for Premier Soccer League promotion.
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