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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
FC Platinum blew a golden chance to at least pocket US$550 000 in the CAF Champions League.
The Zimbabwe champions crashed out of the CAF Champions League in a preliminary round match after falling to Sagrada Esparanca of Angola.
They did not concede a goal in both legs of their showdown but, crucially, they also failed to score at least a goal.
Both legs ended in goalless draws and in the penalty shoot-out drama, it was the hosts who cracked under pressure.
Rodwell Chinyengetere was the fall guy, blowing away his team’s best chance during the game and being the only one who failed from the spot.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Norman Mapeza, and his men, who had a great chance of making the group stages.
That would have guaranteed them at least a US$550 000 bounty.
The CAF Champions League runners-up pocket $1,25 million and the champions get US$2,5 million.
There had been expectations the winner of the tie between FC Platinun, and the Angolans, would have a tough first round battle, against Zesco United, of Zambia.
However, the Zambian side crashed out of the tournament, at the hands of Eswatini lightweights, Royal Leopards.
Zesco were eliminated, at the first hurdle, for the first time, in the clubs’ 16-year dance on the tournament.
Their 2-1 home win at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola proved inadequate as they crashed out on the away goals rule.
They had lost the first leg 0-1.
Warriors midfielder, Tafadzwa Rusike, was on target in Ndola but his beautiful overhead kick, was not enough, to push the Zambian side, into the next round.
A date against the Eswatini side would have given Mapeza, and his men, very good chances, to book their place, in the group stages.
“It would have been a good chance for us, of course, but we lacked a certain sharpness, in both games, especially in attack,’’ said Mapeza.
“You have to take your chances, no matter how few they are, it’s what this game is all about.
“We had our chances and we didn’t take them and paid a big price for that.
“But, you can’t look at all this in isolation, without considering that to get the sharpness, you need to be playing regularly, in competitive games.
“We were okay in defence, in both games, but scoring goals is about getting a sharpness that comes with playing matches and it’s something which we didn’t have.’’
FC Platinum, who won the last three domestic titles, were hand-picked to represent Zimbabwe, since there was no competitive football in the country, last year, to determine the country’s representative, in the tournament.
The Zvishavane side thrashed Mozambican side Costa do Sol, 4-1, in the preliminary round, last year.
They then fell, on controversial fashion, to Tanzania giants, Simba SC, in the first round.
Simba went on to top their group, which featured the likes of eventual winners Al Ahly of Egypt, AS Vita Club of the DRC and Al Merrikh of Sudan.
Their 1-0 win over the Egyptian giants was the high point of their dream campaign.
However, the Tanzanians came unstuck, in the quarter-finals, when they crashed to a 0-4 first leg defeat to Kaizer Chiefs, in Johannesburg. Although they won the return leg 3-0, in Dar es Salaam, the Amakhosi hung on to win 4-3 on aggregate, to reach the semi-finals, en-route to the final.
Online Reporter