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ZIMBABWE international Arnold Chaka says his Botswana side Mochudi Centre Chiefs will be motivated to give Harare giants Dynamos a good run for their money when the two sides meet in the preliminary round of the Champions League in February next year.DeMbare will open their account at home on February 9, 2014 hoping to improve on their performances in the last three seasons when they failed to reach the mini-league phase.
Their opponents Chiefs have won the Botswana Be Mobile Championship back to back in the last two years and will also be looking to make an impact in Africa next year following a disappointing performance in the last edition.
Former Warriors defender Chaka, who is in the club’s books together with countryman Elvis Meleka, yesterday said being paired with Dynamos was a fair draw.
Chiefs, just like the Harare giants, perished in the first round of the tournament this year after succumbing to a 7-0 aggregate defeat to seasoned campaigners T.P Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dynamos were eliminated by Tunisian side CA Bizertin after losing 3-1 aggregate.
Chaka however refused to take the Harare giants lightly despite their recent poor run in the Caf inter-club competitions which has seen them failing to reach the mini-league stage in their last three attempts.
“I think this is a good draw. We respect Dynamos because they are a big team but to our advantage we seem to know more about them than they do about us.
“I also think that we may have an edge over them in terms of fitness when we play these matches since our league will be running full throttle while theirs will be yet to start. We will do our best because it’s not going to be easy. I believe we have to work harder,” said Chaka.
“We learnt our lessons the last time when we played T.P Mazembe and the biggest lesson was that you should always do things right every time.
“If you play at home, you have to make use of the home advantage and try as well to avoid conceding. It is also important to score away and we would need to get something when we come to Harare in the first leg because the away goals could be crucial at the end.”
The Botswana league is currently at half way stage with Chiefs at number four on the log standings, trailing leaders Botswana Defence Forces by six points following a shaky start.
The side has been struggling to stabilise following the departure of Zimbabwean coach Madinda Ndlovu who won back to back titles and has since been replaced by little-known former Serbian footballer Dragojlo Stanojlovic.
“Our coach is good but as is usually the case coaches have different approaches to things. We stumbled at the beginning but our recent performances show that we are coming back to our feet.
“Right now we are in a process of transition. It takes time to adapt to changes but I believe by the time we play Dynamos we should be okay,” said Chaka.
Dynamos have also welcomed the draw which could see them avoiding the North African adversaries in the path to the group stage.
The Harare giants are hoping to strengthen their squad before the December 31 Caf deadline after compiling a 24-member squad with depleted strikeforce.
It is becoming a tall order for the side to find quality forwards to beef up the side after failing to land their targets Nelson Maziwisa and Donald Ngoma. Team coach Callisto Pasuwa might be forced to reconsider some of the players they had left out in their initial squad.
Online Reporter