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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
FITNESS will be key when Zimbabwean Premiership kings CAPS United and newboys Ngezi Platinum Stars go out to hoist the nation’s flag high in the CAF inter-club competitions that begin next week. Makepekepe make a return on the Africa safari with a shot at the Champions League while Ngezi Platinum Stars will be looking to make an impression in their maiden appearance in the second tier Confederation Cup.
The Zimbabweans have been drawn to start their fight at the preliminary round stage which is now only seven days away. Interestingly, they are both going head-to-head with teams that are in the middle of their league programmes, which makes fitness a fundamental requirement to match their opponents.
Makepekepe, who last competed in the second tier Confederation Cup in 2010, begin with a relatively easy task against champions of Lesotho, Lioli FC, away in Maseru next Sunday.
The Green Machine started their pre-season soon after the New Year holidays and have been on a pre-season tour to Zambia where they played two international friendly matches against Red Arrows and Zanaco.
They also hosted Mozambique champions Ferroviario da Beira and won 2-0 at the National Sports Stadium. But for coach Lloyd Chitembwe and his technical team, it was not about the results.
It was all about conditioning his players and preparing them to meet the rigours of the Champions League football.
“Everything depends on one’s fitness levels because you can’t really play football when you are not fit. When you talk of endurance, strength, power, speed, all those things are premised on fitness.
“We are not really looking at our opponents because we are not only preparing for the Champions League.
“We are preparing for the season as well, without necessarily having to focus on one thing only. But we have been with these guys for long. So it’s just a continuation of where we left off,” said Chitembwe.
The former midfielder, who led Makepekepe to their first league title in 11 years was the last man to lead the Harare giants in Africa. Chitembwe was the coach when the Green Machine took part in the Confederation Cup in 2010 beating Mbabane Highlanders of Swaziland in the preliminary round.
They also dismissed Moroka Swallows of South Africa and Warri Wolves of Nigeria in the second round. The campaign was full of promise, but their dreams were dashed in the group stage playoffs when they lost to Edward Sadomba’s Al Hilal.
But this time the route to the group stage is quite shorter. If Makepekepe make it past Lioli they face former African champions TP Mazembe for a place in the mini-league phase.
The loser will be demoted to the Confederation Cup group play-offs.
The nation’s hopes will also be pinned on Ngezi Platinum, who are currently on a training camp in Zambia to fine tune their side.
Tonderai Ndiraya’s men are also wary of their Mauritian opponents Pemplemousse who are regular campaigners.
The newboys had a week of gym workouts at the state-of-the-art Old Mutual Innovative High Performance Centre last month and Ndiraya should be satisfied with the levels of fitness they have reached.
Just like Makepekepe, five weeks have lapsed since they started pre-season training with focus on the physical conditioning.
The Ngezi side, which won the Chibuku Super Cup in their first year of Premiership football, has beefed up with seven new players who include former Young Warriors captain Qadr Amini, Godknows Murwira, Dominic Mukandi and Warriors fringe goalkeeper Takabva Mawaya.
Online Reporter