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Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
KENYA’S Sofapaka FC have threatened to turn the tables on FC Platinum when they meet in the second leg of the Caf Confederation Cup preliminary round in Zvishavane on February 28.FC Platinum won 2-1 on Sunday with the two away goals vital in their quest to proceed to the next stage of the competition.

Felly Mulumba, the Sofapaka captain who was outstanding at the heart of defence warned FC Platinum of a gruelling second leg tie. He praised his team’s opponents for a disciplined and good display.

“It was a good game, FC Platinum were very aggressive but when we come to Zimbabwe we’ll give them a torrid time. The match isn’t over yet, we’ll fight to the bitter end,” said Mulumba.

The Kenyans’ skipper bemoaned his team’s poor preparations. There’s a fight between that country’s Premiership which is insisting on 16 clubs and the federation that wants the elite league to have 18 teams. So they were unable to play some friendly matches.

They had a feel of 11-a-side football when they were beaten 2-1 in a charity shield match last Wednesday.

“That wasn’t enough.  We needed more games.  We’ve also just like the Zimbabweans come from off-season, so we’re still rusty but in two weeks’ time, I’m sure we’ll be better than what we were today,” said the captain soon after the match.

Sam Timbe, the Sofapaka coach said the good thing about African competition is that it’s not a one-match-only event. Citing a team from Tanzania that lost 6-0 at home and scored as many goals away in Zambia to draw level and ultimately proceeded through to the next stage after a penalty shootout, the gaffer said it was still game on for both sides.

“This isn’t a one match event; there’s still the second leg to play. We created chances at home but failed to convert them, if we improve on our finishing, who knows, we may get a positive result. Anything can happen,” said Timbe.

FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza had the luxury of doing away with some of his senior players owing to injury, lack of fitness and illness. He gave African club debuts to youngsters Brian Muzondiwa, scorer of the first goal, Wisdom Mutasa, Walter Musona, Tatenda Dzumbunu, Elvis Moyo and Kelvin Moyo.

Going by the adage that experience can only be gained by exposure, the young players took up the challenge and played well under pressure away from home.

Mapeza’s team was without experienced Aaron Katebe and Nelson Maziwisa who watched from the terraces.

Zambian forward Obrey Chola Chirwa, Marshall Mudehwe, Stephen Sibanda and Daniel Vheremu could not make the cut for the trip to Kenya. Still Mapeza was able to come up with a young team that played some entertaining but purposeful football with Raphael Muduviwa and Musona creating all sorts of problems on the right flank for Sofapaka.

The Zimbabweans had a sluggish start, with Sofapaka forcing five throw-ins in the opening seven minutes when it appeared FC Platinum could crack. To make matters worse, midfield kingpin and reigning club Player of the Year Thabani Kamusoko had a slow start with a number of poor passes and Gift Bello too appeared not in it. But as the game wore on both came to the party. Kamusoko should work on more forward play than passes to the wingbacks and to the back as on two occasions he had the travelling fans gasping for breath with ‘suicide’ passes that landed on the path of Enock Agwanda who was full of running and trickery all afternoon for Sofapaka.

Good goalkeeping by Petros Mhari was key to the positive result.

Mapeza explained at the end of the match that it was his team’s tactical approach to have Muduviwa and Musona involved in the team’s attacks on the right at the expense of the other wing where Elvis did not venture much into enemy territory.

There were instances however when the opposition tried to catch Elvis exposed to one-two passes with pacy Jonson Bagole well supported by Agwanda and Patrick Kagogo. Bello and Kelvin would come to the rescue with timely tackles and clearances.

Donald Ngoma assured the Zimbabweans of a 2-1 win with a goal in the 75th minute after the hosts had equalised through Fiston Abdoul.
Mapeza lamented his boys’ lack of fitness. He said they have been working together for four weeks which is not good enough.

“We soaked the pressure in the opening 15 minutes. I had told the boys that the opening 15 minutes were the most crucial and I wasn’t surprised that they came at us right from the start.

“But from the start, I had told Elvis to stay behind because we woudn’t use that flank, while I told Walter (Musona) to move up. And the second goal we scored came from the right flank. It was largely due to tactical discipline.

“We got two goals away from home and that’s a positive start,” Mapeza told the media after the game.

On Kelvin’s slip that gifted Sofapaka with the equaliser, Mapeza described it as a soft goal. He refused to blame the young centreback saying such incidents happen in the game of football.

Travelling club president George Mawere was happy with the result.

“The boys played well. The match isn’t over yet, we’ve to guard against complacency at home,” said Mawere.

His sentiments were echoed by Bulawayo businessman Worthwhile Mugabe who was among over a dozen Zimbabweans who accompanied the team.

“We shouldn’t read too much into this result. It’s still game on and we hope the boys will do even better in Zvishavane,” said Mugabe.

It was a good flowing match well handled by Sudanese officials Elfath Wadeed Khael (centre), Mohammed Idam Idam Hamid and Elmoiz Ali Mohammed  Ahmed.

Zimbabwe head of delegation Masimba Chihowa was impressed with the officiating.

“It’s rare that you play away and you’re impressed with the officiating. The referees were very fair and applied the rules consistently,” said Chihowa, a former Zifa panel referee now a Zifa councillor representing primary schools.

The winner of the FC Platinum-Sofapaka duel will clash with either Young Africans of Tanzania or Botswana’s Defence Forces.

Sofapaka are a team formed from a Pentecostal church in Nairobi and enjoy a small fan base.