adminagainst Sudanese giants El Merreikh in Khartoum.
Platinum date the Sudanese soccer kings in a Champions League first round, second leg tie at the imposing EL Merreik stadium on Saturday night.
The match will start at 8pm Zimbabwean time.
Rahman Gumbo’s men were left with a much tougher task in Sudan after El Merreikh held them to 2-2 deadlock at Rufaro with the Castle Lager Premiership runners-up having to twice come from behind to salvage a draw with goals coming from newboy Mitchell Katsvairo and Joel Ngodzo.
Their captain Ngodzo, speaking at the Harare International Airport yesterday, afternoon shortly before their departure for Khartoum via Addis Ababa the seasoned defender was optimistic that the platinum miners can progress to the second round of the tournament.
A 32-member delegation left Harare yesterday and tomorrow they will be joined by a dozen supporters, including some officials from their sponsors FBC Bank.
Ngodzo might have had a nightmarish first leg in which he had to be hauled off after just 42 minutes but the former Highlanders right back has refused to throw in the towel.
“Our chances are 50-50. They scored two goals here and so what can stop us from doing the same there.
“We will quickly adapt to all the conditions, good or bad, which we will face there. We will be focused on the game. We have character to progress to the next round but to do well in Africa you have to beat the best,” said Ngodzo.
Ngodzo is also one of a number of players in this Platinum side who have already played in the conditions in Sudan either with Highlanders or with the Warriors squad that was in that country in January last year for the African Nations Championships.
After the first leg ended in a scoring draw, former Gunners midfielder Ali Sadiki — who has endeared himself with the Platinum fans since his arrival in Zvishavane at the start of the year — believes it would be an open game on Saturday night.
“We are still in the picture and all we need is a win even a 1-0 it would be good for us. At least when they are at home they should play a more attacking game and leave some gaps and we should use that to our advantage.
“It is always tricky when playing away and we are playing in the evening and we anticipate the match to begin at a fast pace and the first 30 minutes would be crucial but we have to maintain and absorb the pressure.
“Every time we score a goal it would be to our advantage and that should unsettle them,” said Sadiki.
Another Platinum newboy Allen Gahadzikwa also called on his teammates to come to the party and said it was possible to win away.
“I have some experience playing in this tournament and have been telling the youngsters that we can win in Sudan.
“Last year with Motor Action we lost at Rufaro but went on to win in Madagascar. I just hope I will also have a good game and contribute to the team,” said Gahadzikwa.
In the absence of striker Donald Ngoma, Gumbo has trusted Charles Sibanda to lead the miners’ line of attack. The club’s secretary Philemon Muwengwa, who
traveled as the advance party and arrived in Khartoum in the early hours of yesterday is happy with the receptin they got from their hosts.
“We arrived at 2am and we found El-Merreikh officials and officials from our embassy here. We have been booked in a nice hotel Coral Khartoum and we have prepared everything and now waiting for team’s arrival at dawn. We have been to the match venue and it is a nice stadium and later in the day we will go and see the training venue, which is the National Sports Stadium.
“There is a huge presence of the army in town with soldiers at every corner and it is very hot and humid but in the evening it is much cooler and should be better for our players,” said Muwengwa.
Meanwhile, Hwange Football Club also arrived in Atabara about 300km from capital Khartoum yesterday morning.
Their Confederation Cup match will now be played on Sunday at 7.30pm and club secretary Burzil Dube who also traveled as the advance party said the team flew from Khartoum on a plane chartered by their hoss.
“The team arrived at 2am and in the morning got into a charter plane for Atabara which is about 280 km from the capital. The team will have their first training session tonight (last night). Here it is very hot with temperatures averaging 43 degrees so we would only be training in the evenings. Our hotel is about 15km from the training venue and we are safe and the Zimbabwean embassy officials here have assured us that we shouldn’t be worried about security issues,” said Dube.
Online Reporter