By Paul Nyathi|Confusion and chaos was the order of the day at the National Sports Stadium on Tuesday as soccer fans wrestled and jostled to gain entry into the giant stadium.

Somehow, not anticipating a huge turn out for the mid week game, the football administration body ZIFA did not open all the entry points into the stadium causing heavy congestion at the few entry points.

One wonders how ZIFA failed to realise that people were going to throng into the stadium almost at the same time as they made their way from work. Long queues with heavy pushing and shoving were the result of the poor planning by ZIFA.

In one of the entry points anti riot police had to call for reinforcement from officers manning other points as a disgruntled crowd pushed down the gate and forced their way into the stadium without paying.

When the police eventually managed to restrain free entry, thousands of fans had already made their way into the stadium.

Fans who spoke to ZimEye.com outside the stadium blasted ZIFA for the poor planning which saw some of them gain entry into the stadium half an hour after the start of the match.

“This is very poor planning by ZIFA, for a match of this magnitude,” said a fan who had brought his wife and kids for the match.

Other fans claimed that the confusion gave an opportunity for pickpockets and thieves to have access to people’s valuables such as cell phones and cash.

ZimEye.com could not immediately get a comment from ZIFA.

An estimated crowd of about 25000 people got access into the stadium while another considerable number was seen leaving the 40 000 capacity stadium without going in due to the congestion at the gates.