Online Reporter
Blessing Malinganiza recently in ESWATINI
Zimpapers Sports
SCOTTLAND coach Norman Mapeza has urged his players to quickly turn their attention to Wednesday’s Chibuku Super Cup quarter-final against Hardrock.
The Mabvuku side are celebrating an historic CAF Champions League breakthrough.
They advanced to the first round after holding Nsingizini Hotspurs to a goalless draw in Eswatini on Saturday, completing a 1–0 aggregate victory. Neville Tengeng’s second-half goal in the first leg at the National Sports Stadium proved decisive.
“There is no perfect game in this world. The guys worked so hard, and the credit should go to them,” Mapeza said.
“Like I said, we came here looking for two results, a draw or a win, and we got the draw. The guys worked so hard.”
There is no time to rest for Mapeza and his men as they face Hardrock in a Chibuku Super Cup quarter-final showdown at Rufaro on Wednesday. “For us, we just have to take it as it comes,” he said.
“We know we have qualified for the next stage, so we have to prepare. We have a very tight schedule, so we just have to manage it.”
That congested programme brings Hardrock immediately into focus.
Mapeza indicated that he could rotate his squad to protect players who carried the workload in Eswatini.
“Some of the guys who played today are not going to play in the next game,” he said.
“We have to keep managing the squad. Otherwise, with such a tight schedule, it won’t last.”
Should Scottland eliminate Petro, they will join Dynamos, Monomotapa, CAPS
The result made Scottland the first local club, since the FIFA ban was lifted in Zimbabwe, to reach the second preliminary round.
It is a notable achievement for a club making their Champions League debut, only two years after winning promotion to the domestic Premiership and less than a year after claiming the league championship in their maiden top-flight season.
Scottland succeeded where the country’s three previous representatives fell at the opening hurdle.
FC Platinum lost to Sagrada Esperança on penalties in 2021, while Ngezi Platinum Stars and Simba Bhora suffered shoot-out defeats to Maniema Union and Nsingizini respectively after Zimbabwe’s return from its FIFA suspension.
Scottland will now face 20-time Angolan champions Petro de Luanda for a place in the group stage.
Mapeza, who guided FC Platinum to their maiden Champions League group-stage appearance in 2018/19, said Scottland would approach the next assignment cautiously.
United and FC Platinum among Zimbabwean clubs to have reached the Champions League group stage.
