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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor—
CHICKEN INN might have stumbled at the first hurdle in their maiden CAF Champions League dance, but the Gamecocks’ elimination after a brave showing hasn’t ended Zimbabwe’s interest in the continent’s flagship inter-club tournament. Tomorrow Zimbabwe international footballers — Oscar Machapa and Cuthbert Malajila — are set to collide in Kinshasa in a Champions League showdown.
For Machapa, a crack at a place in the group phase of the Champions League represents another chapter in an incredible tale after his critics were dismissing him as a spent force just a year ago as he struggled to make an impression on the domestic Premiership.
Given a new lease of life by his old club CAPS United, who plucked him after his spell at bitter rivals Dynamos during the mid-season transfer window, Machapa barely stayed at the Green Machine as AS Vita came knocking on the door for his services. Now, he could be playing in the CAF Champions League group stages.
Sadly, Khama Billiat — who missed Mamelodi Sundowns’ opening tie against Chicken Inn at Barbourfields before returning to the team to play an influential role as the Brazilians weathered a storm and progressed into the first round — is unavailable again tomorrow.
The high-flying Warrior, whose handlers believe he could be playing for a European team next season after impressing scouts who came to watch him turn on the style and turn the game on its head, after his introduction as a second half substitute in the 2017 Nations Cup qualifier against Swaziland on Easter Monday, is ineligible for today’s showdown at the Stade Tata Raphael.
Billiat is serving a one-match ban after picking two yellow cards in Sundowns’ last two Champions League assignments against AC Leopards of Congo Brazzaville, but is expected to return to lead the attack when the Brazilians host Congolese giants AS Vita in Pretoria in the second leg of their second round tie.
His suspension could open a window for his countryman, Malajila, to be thrust into the attack as Sundowns return to Central Africa for a battle on the other side of the River Congo, hoping to clear the tough hurdle expected to be erected by an AS Vita side that has been impressive on the continent in recent years.
The Kinshasa giants were losing finalists in the CAF Champions League just two years ago, eliminating Dynamos and Kaizer Chiefs along the way, and Machapa has become something of a celebrity since his arrival in the Congolese capital.
Dubbed “The Strong Man From Harare”, Machapa even features on billboards, which AS Vita have erected on the road leading to their home ground. Malajila and Peter Ndlovu, the Sundowns’ team manager are likely to get a first-hand experience of how their fellow countryman is held in high esteem in Kinshasa by his club.
While the South African Premiership is the richest top-flight league on the continent, by a country mile, there are many who feel that the Congolese top-flight is now the most competitive and toughest league in Africa although the Algerians will question that theory.
The Congolese top-flight has provided a team that has won the CAF Champions League three times, in the past seven years, with TP Mazembe, the Lubumbashi giants, capturing the trophy in 2009, 2010 and 2015.
AS Vita, who won the title back in 1973 during a golden era for Congolese football when the national team were crowned African champions twice and qualified for the ’74 World Cup, the only time they have played at the global showcase, have transformed themselves into a major force in recent years as they battle to find a path back to the glory fields of the bygone era.
Machapa has become one of the key players at the team, usually playing in central midfield as opposed to the fullback role that he used to play here at CAPS United and Dynamos, and during his spell in the South African Premiership. He played as a fullback in the qualifier against Ferroviario Maputo.
Given that AS Vita provided the bulk of the players who powered the DRC to the 2016 CHAN title in neighbouring Rwanda, Machapa’s ability to hold a place in the team, and be celebrated as one of its stars, is testimony of the good work that he has been putting into his shifts and the quality he has been displaying.
Tomorrow, he faces a number of players he used to play against in the South African Premiership before his career appeared to fade, when he returned home, only for him to find his range again and strike another deal with a foreign club.
“We are all good and everyone is looking forward to the game on Sunday. We hope we will get a good result in this game,” Machapa told KickOff.com. “My teammates all know about Sundowns because they all follow the South African league.” A capacity crowd of 50 000 is expected for the showdown with Machapa saying that AS Vita are the most supported club in the DRC.
Sundowns are yet to win in two previous visits to Kinshasa, which provides a different test to what they are used to in South Africa after they were beaten 1-2 in the 1994 edition of this tournament and then losing by a solitary goal five years later in the CAF Confederation Cup.
And the South African media, who believe that Sundowns have shown the heart to do wonders in the competition this year and redeem some of the pride battered by Bafana Bafana’s poor show in the 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers, have been dedicating a lot of coverage on this battle which they are calling the “Rumble in the Jungle”.
“We even had problems with the actual field that the match that was played on as it wasn’t even suitable for use for an amateur match. It was natural grass but it was horribly bumpy,” he told the South African media. “Then there was the issues to do with the officiating. Referees in that part of the world will always give favourable decisions to the home team.
“So, even now, Sundowns should expect some decisions to go against them and be man enough to face that instead of being sissies. There is also the influence of the crowd. Vita have the numbers when they play at home and I mean you really feel it because they will be right in your faces all the time.
“They make so much noise that it even becomes difficult to communicate, plus they are allowed to sit very close to the bench. When we went there, we also had the military with their guns next to us on the bench as there was some political unrest going on at the time.
“I would like to encourage Sundowns not to be frightened by all that.”
Online Reporter