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Mukudzei Chingwere in LUANDA, Angola
FC PLATINUM coach Norman Mapeza, who plunges into his first Champions League assignment as coach here tomorrow, says he has a lot of respect for Angola as a serious and competitive football nation and his men have to be at their best in their assignment here.

The Zvishavane miners face Angolan champions, Club Desportivo 1st de Agosto, in the preliminary round, first leg of the CAF Champions League here tomorrow at the 11 November Stadium.

The match starts at 5pm Zimbabwean time.

After leading his men’s workout here yesterday, Mapeza told The Saturday Herald he knows the task that awaits them tomorrow when they take on their opponents.

“This is not my first time for me to be here,’’ he revealed.

“I have been here some 20 or 15 years ago and we won here when we came with the national team with players like (Francis) Shonhayi.

“I know Angolans, they play good football but, obviously, things have changed.

“Everything has changed and is changing and you cannot say Spain won the World Cup in 2010 and they are still the best, it has changed.

“This club we are playing is one of the best clubs in Angola, I have seen them play before on video footage and like I said I know the challenges we will face.

“I understand they have been in CAF (competitions) for about eight seasons, of course, they have not been doing well but now they have a new coach from Europe and a new coach brings a lot of things.

“Today (yesterday) we worked on the speed and sprints, it gives us an idea of the players’ recovery. It is just a short time but I think on Sunday we will be okay.

“But we cannot determine the type (of football) we play now, we will have to adjust.’’

The Angolan side have big and talented players which Mapeza and his charges have to deal with in this duel.

The match is receiving huge media coverage here and the home supporters are crazy about their talented duo of national team midfielders Geraldo Costa and Bua Pedro as well as Congolese defender Bobo Vugenda who stands at 1,89 metres and weighs 90,3 kilogrammes.

Agosto do not have a tradition of scoring many goals score many goals but have crafted a reputation as a side that grind narrow winning margins.

Their chief striker last season, Ramilton Rambie of Cape Verde, who was the also the league’s top goal-scorer, had 11 league goals.

He has since left the club.

In Rambie’s absence they are likely to deploy big Nigerian striker Yissa who stands 1,9 metres and weighs 93 kilogrammes.

Agosto, who are now under the guidance of Serbian coach Zoran Maki, have not yet played an official match this season with their league still off-season just like the Zimbabwean league.

Agosto assistant coach Ivo Traca said they come into the Champions League with an objective of getting to the group stages.

“We will enter this competition with the objective of going to the group stages. We are coming from a good pre-season and we have prepared well for the Zimbabwean team.

“We know this team from Zimbabwe, we have done our research and we have their information, they play defensively, passes the ball around.

“In the first 10-15 minutes we will study them but we will play for a positive result here and finish them off in Harare.

“We would have liked to play our Super Cup match before this game,” said Traca.

FC Platinum travelling squad

Wallace Magalane, Rapheal Muduviwa, Gift Bello , Kevin Moyo, Elvis Moyo, Winston Mhango, Rodwell Chinyengetere, Never Tigere, Rahman Kautsanzira, Ali Sadiki, Charles Sibanda, Mkhokheli Dube, Lawrence Mhlanga, Tatenda Mudehwe, Petros Mhari, Jameson Mukombwe, William Stima, Kevin Madzongwe, Brett Amidu, Gift Mbweti