Pamplemousses confident

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
DESPITE playing second fiddle to Zimbabwean opposition in CAF competitions, Pamplemousses coach Tony Francois is confident his Mauritius side can squeeze past Ngezi Platinum tomorrow afternoon at the National Sports Stadium.

The two teams meet in a Confederation Cup reverse tie following a 1-1 draw last week.

The islanders have always found the going tough against Zimbabwean teams, be it at national team or club level.

But the gaffer, a former Pamplemousses striker, said they have a squad to win this time around.

“This is my third visit to the country. I have been here before with the national team and with Pamplemousses when we played Highlanders.

“But this is different now, I am now coaching the club and I have been in the job for nine months, so I am looking to do well and guide the team to the next round.

“We would want to progress. We trained well, the players were a little bit tired from the travel and we will train again in the evening.

“We had some nice chances to win, to score good goals at home and I believe we have chances to score here as well.

“We are looking forward to win the match.

“We are confident and have a good team,” he said.

The coach said they are fully aware of the threat posed by the hosts.

“Ngezi are a good team. We saw what they did in Mauritius, but we are ready for them,” said Francois.

The coach says they will employ an attacking game.

“I believe that we did everything to win the home game and it is not like we were content with a draw.

“We were attacking but we just could not score many goals.

“We hope to continue with that kind of play.”

Ngezi Platinum coach Tonderai Ndiraya said he is wary of his opponents.

“What we have discovered is that they are quite a determined lot. But we have also discovered that their defence is not as tight as you would expect and we will also try to capitalise on that.

“But overall, a good team. We would really need to step up our efforts if we want to qualify, but we are not reading much into their play,” he said.