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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

TRIANGLE United have made a passionate appeal to the soccer-loving Bulawayo people to throng Barbourfields Stadium tomorrow and rally behind his boys as they take on Burundi’s Rukinzo in a Total Caf Confederation Cup preliminary round first leg encounter.

Speaking soon after their training session at Emagumeni yesterday, Triangle United coach Taurai Mangwiro said he had all the confidence in Bulawayo football fans and the country at large that they were aware that tomorrow’s match was no longer a Triangle United cause but a national one.

“I would really like to appeal to soccer -loving people to come and rally behind our team, it is no longer a Triangle cause, it is a national one now and we expect them to rally behind our team and we promise to deliver,” said Mangwiro. He said they had done enough in terms of preparing for the match.

“Emagumeni has always been a very spacious pitch and it was important for us to have a feel of the turf and we have picked up a few things in line with the pitch but I want to think it can suit our style of play whereby the use of width is going to be very key and that was important,” said the former Zifa technical director.

He said while it might be their first time to play continental football as a club, they had enough experience on the technical bench as well as some of their players who have been at this stage before.

“The inexperience as an institution shouldn’t be an excuse for us not to do well. We want to get in there and make an impact because it’s something which is a lifetime opportunity and we have to maximise it to the full,” said Mangwiro.

Sugar Sugar Boys go into tomorrow’s duel on the backdrop of an eight match unbeaten run on the domestic scene while their opponents haven’t played a competitive match since April this year.

Some of the players that are likely to carry the day for the Lowveld-based side are Collins Dhuwa, Pasca Manhanga, Praise Tonha, Ralph Kawondera, Timothy January as well as Chang Mariyoni.

If Triangle United manage to sail into the last and final round of qualifiers, they are likely to meet either Fasil Kenema Sport Club of Ethiopia or Bruce Kangwa’s Azam of Tanzania in what will be an emotional return to Barbourfields for Kangwa.

Gate charges for the match have been pegged at $10 for rest of the ground, $20 wings and $50 for a place in the VIP grandstand and VIP enclosure.