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Don Makanyanga-Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE soccer kings Ngezi Platinum Stars might be making their maiden appearance in the CAF Champions League this year, but they have not stopped dreaming.
The Mhondoro miners have set themselves what appears an audacious target to reach the group stage of Africa’s biggest inter-club knock-out competition.
Ngezi will make their debut with a home-away-from-home preliminary round, first leg assignment against Democratic Republic of Congo’s AS Maniema at the Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia on Saturday.
Takesure Chiragwi’s men left the country for Lusaka yesterday but not before they underscored their Champions League ambitions, through club vice-president Lysias Chiwozva.
“We are pretty happy with the preparations that we have had leading to the Champions League.
“Our target without putting undue pressure on the technical team and players, is to reach the group stages,” Chiwozva said.
Although they are competing in the Champions League for the first time, it is the second time that Ngezi are representing the country in a CAF competition.
They featured in the 2017 Confederation Cup after winning the Chibuku Super Cup the previous season.
“The feeling from the club is that we want to go there (Champions League) and compete.
“We will be representing the country and we are acutely aware of the fact that the performance of a club competing in the Champions League has a bearing on how the CAF authorities see that particular league.
“If we perform well in the Champions League, we open more room for more clubs to participate in the African safari and with that in mind we are not going there to just fulfil the preliminary round fixtures,” said Chiwozva.
He said Ngezi had been playing in the Premiership with one eye on the Champions League as they used the fixtures to assess their preparedness for the continental assignment.
“We had to use the first half of the season to assess the team’s potential preparedness for Africa.
“The process went through the coaches assessing our weaknesses and strengths as a team hence the additions we made during the transfer window,” he said.
Chiwozva said Ngezi were also eager to defend their league title and to win the Chibuku Super Cup for which they were runners-up to Dynamos last year.
“The good thing about Ngezi Platinum is we said we want to compete right from the start when we joined the league and we know that each time a club joins the league it is like a cliché that we are not here on holiday but we want to compete.
“NPS has not only said that but has lived that.
“The amount of pressure the boys will have on Chibuku Super Cup is the same they have on the CAF Champions League when they are playing the league hence, we are not going to rank those cups.
“Our target (Chibuku Super Cup) is that we have won it before and we want to win it again, the Premier Soccer League championship . . . we are the defending champions and we would want to retain it,” said Chiwozva.
Online Reporter