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Eddie Chikamhi, Harare Bureau
HAVING been away from continental football for a length period, Caps United coach Lloyd Chitembwe wants his side to be competitive as they leave for Lesotho this morning to begin a fresh campaign in the Caf Champions League.

Makepekepe play Lesotho champions Lioli in the preliminary round first leg tie at the Sesotho Stadium tomorrow at 4:00pm.

The return leg is only a week away at the National Sports Stadium with the winners setting up a date with former African champions TP Mazembe for a place in the mini-league phase.

However Chitembwe, the last coach to lead the Green Machine in the continental competitions in 2010 when they participated in the Confederation Cup, will be looking to better his previous outing by reaching the group stage.

“The objectives are very simple and clear. The main objective is obviously to try and be very competitive,” said Chitembwe.

“In terms of preparations, I’m sure we have done that bit. The players know the challenge at hand and one thing that I can see in them is the motivation in wanting to do more and in wanting to play that level of the game.

“Just that in itself is good enough to have in a team.”

Makepekepe were scheduled to fly out to South Africa early in the morning and then connect to Maseru.

They are expected to have a light training at the match venue later in the day to get a feel of the artificial surface.

Except for their chief striker Leonard Tsipa, who is not registered, Chitembwe has all his players at his disposal after reporting a clean bill of health.

Despite their lack of experience on the big stage, the Caps United squad still looks reasonably solid with such players as Hardlife Zvirekwi, Simba Nhivi, Ronald Chitiyo, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Tafadzwa Rusike, Joel Ngodzo, Abbas Amidu, Devon Chafa and big goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda.

This will be the Green Machine’s fourth appearance in the modern edition of the tournament after playing in the tournament in 1997, 2005 and 2006.

With a new format in place for an enlarged group stage competition to involve 16 teams placed in four groups, Makepekepe are only two games away from their dream provided they pass the tests against Lioli and TP Mazembe.

They have been preparing for the last five weeks and also embarked in high-profile international friendly matches during the period.

After hosting Mozambique champions Ferroviario da Beira at home three weeks ago, they also took part in a pre-season training camp in Zambia where they played two more preparatory games against Red Arrows and the country’s champions Zanaco.

Out of the three matches, the Green Machine won two.

But for Chitembwe it was not about results. Cognisant of the fact that their opponents are at the peak of their league season, it was critical to major on fitness and conditioning.

But this week had been dedicated to trying various combinations and the tactical aspects of the game.

It hasn’t been much of a challenge for the technical team after Makepekepe managed to retain the bulk of the championship winning side with the sole exception of centreback Stephen Makatuka who moved to South Africa during the off-season break.

He was replaced by towering defender Last Sithole while former Dynamos and Harare City midfielder Ronald Chitiyo and goalkeeper Prosper Chigumba from Makepekepe’s sister team Gunners in Division One have also joined the Green Machine.

“Obviously the positives (of the tour of Zambia) were that it afforded us more time together as a team and I’m sure it was quite beneficial to go to Zambia. The trip served its purpose.

“We just wanted to make sure that we are together; we just wanted to make sure that we bond as a team and I think we achieved exactly that,” said Chitembwe.