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Mukudzei Chingwere, Harare Bureau
FC PLATINUM coach Norman Mapeza says he would have loved the local Premiership to end earlier to allow his side to shift focus to their onslaught on the Champions League which starts later this month.
FC Platinum will plunge into the continental game in the next two weeks when they begin their adventure with an away date to Madagascar’s CNaPS FC at Stade Municipal de Toamasina, Miarinarivo.
But with little time left before the commencement of their Champions League assignments, FC Platinum still have to fulfil and focus on their domestic Premiership duties with a clash against runners-up, Ngezi Platinum, scheduled for tomorrow at Mandava.
They will wind up their season with a fixture on the road away to Bulawayo giants, Highlanders.
FC Platinum have featured on the continent on three different occasions, twice in the Champions League and the Confederation Cup but failed to reach the group stages on all attempts.
Now they have set targets of reaching the mini league stages.
However, addressing his routine weekly media briefing the championship winning gaffer said their preparations have been somewhat been derailed by the Premiership calendar.
“It is always difficult, my wish as a coach or our wish as a club was for the season to finish a little bit early.
“But as you are aware Caf took some time in making decisions on releasing fixtures, at this stage we cannot complain we just have to prepare and map a way forward,” said Mapeza.
Their preliminary round tie against the side will not be a push over for the miners as they face a side with full Madagascar internationals.
Madagascar was the first nation to qualify for the 2019 Afcon finals joining host Cameroon after topping a group that included African football powerhouse, Senegal.
Mapeza said they were still treating their game against Ngezi seriously despite having sealed the championship title as they are chasing a record 80-point mark target they have set for themselves.
“Let us not forget that we are playing against Ngezi Platinum over the weekend so for now 75 percent of our attention is on the local league, once we are done then we can start talking about the Champions League.
“We cannot be focusing much on another tournament when we have not finished our local league.
“Our objective now is to reach the 80 point mark, so it means we need to win against Ngezi so that we manage to achieve our set target,” said Mapeza.
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