FC PLATINUM will need to stage the mother of all football comebacks to reverse a devastating 1-5 pounding received at the hands of Young Africans in the first round, first leg of the Caf Confederation Cup on Sunday in Tanzania.
MUKUDZEI CHINGWERE SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Norman Mapeza’s boys need four unanswered goals in the return leg at Mandava Stadium in a fortnight.
Judging by their performance on Sunday, Mapeza will prefer to go into the match with the same team and give the young players some measure of international experience ahead of the new season.
Platinum will start their 2015 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season with a home date against newly-promoted Dongo Sawmills.
Mapeza has already conceded that it would almost be impossible for his charges to overturn the deficit. Pure Platinum Play failed to cope with the punishing extremely hot climatic conditions of the East African country.
The miners faced another imposing challenge of having to deal with the vociferous football loving Tanzanians who passionately cheered on their team, unlike in the preliminary round against Sofapaka where the stadium in Kenya was empty.
They came into the match having to cope with the absence of Donald Ngoma who did not travel with the team as he was fighting an ailment.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“I have played football before and you usually do not overturn such results, 1-5 is too much. We do not have to fool ourselves that miracles do happen, it is not going to be easy to overturn this scoreline. We played against a better team and the weather badly affected us,” Mapeza said.
His charges were guilty of poor defending and failing to follow basics such as timing the offside traps. Youngsters Kelvin and Elvis Moyo struggled on the left wing and Yanga capitalised on that, opening a route that led to three goals in the second half.
At this level of competition, giving youngsters exposure is good if you are not chasing results, but when you want to make an impact then you need to have the likes of Petros Mhari, Raphael Muduviwa, Aaron Katebe, Gift Bello, Daniel Vheremu, Thabani Kamusoko, Simon Shoko, Ngoma and Brian Muzondiwa in thw starting X1.
To these, could be added Wisdom Mutasa and Walter Musona while knowing the bench has impact players like Obrey Chirwa, Nelson Mazivisa and Allen Gahadzikwa.
The return leg will be played at Mandava in two weeks’ time and Pure Platinum Play fans would hope the technical department could spur the team into battle and avenge the embarrassing defeat.
The team arrived in Zimbabwe mid-morning yesterday.
