adminthey will face Green Mambas of Swaziland in the preliminary round in February next year.
Speaking on the sidelines of the club’s end-of-the-year awards presentation function in Zvishavane on Saturday night, Mabhena said they are looking at making their presence felt in their maiden African Safari appearance.
“There are no easy games at this level of competition and we will prepare adequately. We cannot say we should have wished for other opponents, a draw is a draw and you can always prepare for any match.
“We are looking forward to playing that team (Green Mambas). They are the champions in their country and should be good. We want to go as far as we can in this competition. We are not really putting ourselves under pressure.
“We are grateful that we have the leadership of (head coach) Rahman Gumbo, who is an experienced coach at this stage, and it should benefit us as we play in the Champions League (for the first time),” said Mabhena.
The FC Platinum assistant coach also said that they have some additions to their squad, which was pipped to the league title by Dynamos this year.
A number of players are undergoing trials at the club and on Saturday the trialists featured for FC Platinum as they played Hwange in a friendly match before their end-of-the-year party.
The Highlanders duo of captain Gilbert Banda and Louis Matawu, Gunners winger Ali Sadiki, Michelle Katsvairo, Welcome Ndiweni, Rowan Nenzou, Francis Tizai and United States-based former
Highlanders forward Mkhokeli Dube are some of the players having trials at FC Platinum and they featured in the match in which they edged Hwange 1-0.
“There has been a lot of interest from (the other) players and we will take each case on merit. Mind you, the current squad did very well (last season) and we are not really going on a shopping spree.
“We have not really decided on who will be off-loaded, but we are hoping to bring in one or two new players to sharpen our strike force,” said Mabhena.
FC Platinum are still making some final touches at their home ground – Mandava – and are hoping to get Caf approval to stage their home matches in the Champions League in the mining town. And the club’s president, Nathan Shoko, said they are confident that by the time they host the Swazis in the return leg on the weekend of March 2-4, the stadium would be ready to host an international match.
“We want to bring African football to Zvishavane and we cannot say at the moment where we will stage our matches if we fail to pass the test, we will cross that bridge when we get there.
“We are in the process of re-assessing our team. We have set new goals and challenges and we want to build a team which will acquit itself well in the Champions League.
“We believe anyone who enters any competition does so to win. At the end of the day you may not win it but you aim to win it.
“And even if you lose you will know you will have given it your best shot. We will continue in the same manner as we have done before in terms of motivating our players,” said Shoko.
He also said head coach Gumbo will stay at the club “as he has got a contract to fulfil”.
Online Reporter