adminDynamos will face Club Bizertin in a first round, first leg encounter at the October 15 Stadium in Bizerte, a town that is some 60km away from the capital Tunis.
Sadomba, their talisman in the year that DeMbare held the nation spellbound with fairy-tale run that saw them upstage fancied Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel in the second round, reckoned that although short on some experienced players, Callisto Pasuwa’s men have the capacity to emulate their class of 2008, which was under David “Yogi’’ Mandigora.
Then as now, the Dynamos Champions League journey started with a preliminary round fixture against Swaziland police side Royal Leopards.
The Harare giants then overcame the Costa do Sol hurdle in the first round with a Sadomba hat-trick at Gwanzura in the first leg laying the platform for their 3-2 aggregate victory.
Dynamos then surprised everyone, including themselves, when posting back to back 1-0 victories over Etoile du Sahel with veteran midfielder, Desmond Maringwa, powering a header in the first leg at Gwanzura before a stunning Benjamin Marere volley silenced the Tunisians in Sousse in the reverse fixture.
That win in Sousse also ensured it was Dynamos who advanced to the group stage of the Champions League and ended Etoile Du Sahel’s long unbeaten home record.
Sadomba, now plying his trade with Al Ittihad Kalba in the rich United Arab Emirates league, reckoned that a similar feat could be achieved if Pasuwa’s men “believe in themselves and forget about the fame and reputation of North African teams’’.
The former Al Hilal striker, who ended the 20008 campaign as Dynamos top scorer with six goals, also noted that Club Bizertin were not as big a force in the continental game as Esperance, Etoile du Sahel and Club Africain.
Apart from travelling to Tunisia with Dynamos, Sadomba was also back in the North African country twice again for Champions League business with Sudanese giants Al Hilal and believes DeMbare “have nothing to fear by facing Club Bizertin’’.
Sadomba is also very close buddies with Dynamos captain Murape Murape and believes that the battle-hardened pencil slim midfielder has both the heart and the character to inspire his troops in tomorrow’s game.
“Despite being away in United Arab Emirates I still closely follow the progress of both Dynamos and Al Hilal and I am in regular touch with my former teammates from both teams.
“I watched the Al Hilal derby against El Merreikh last weekend which ended 0-0 always speak to Murape, Gazza (Desmond Maringwa) and the coaches.
“I also train with Dynamos whenever I am back home for the off-season break.
“So I am still part of the blue family. When they were preparing to go to Tunisia, the patron Minister Webster Shamu called and me and was asking if I knew anything about that club and I also told him that they needed to prepare well for the boys in everything they want,’’ Sadomba said.
The speedy forward who has so far scored one goal in three starts since his arrival at Al Ittihad Kalba said Dynamos also needed to fight for a result that would put more pressure on Club Bizertin for the return fixture at Rufaro.
Sadomba also extolled on the Dynamos players to use the Champions League game as a platform to market themselves and said opportunities could only open for them if they helped the club to progress to the group stages of the tournament.
“Every match you play in the Champions League must be your motivation and each player must give 120 percent because you never know who is watching you… this is the platform to market yourselves.
“But the players also need to be tactically disciplined, play as a team and ensure if they are to concede, they do not concede more than two goals and since we are playing the first leg away it is important to score one or two away goals.
“History has also shown that you can progress to the next round through the away goals and there are a number of teams that have benefitted from the away goal’s rule including in the European Champions League and Europa League matches this week.
“So Dynamos’ chances of getting a result are high, they have to learn quickly from past history and they must remember that anything is possible in football, in 2008 we won in Tunisia when very few people expected us to do so.
“But for now we have concentrate on the first leg in Tunisia before we can even think about the return leg in Harare and that concentration is not only about the players but it must include the management and the fans because that is what makes a great club,’’ Sadomba said.
Sadomba whose club will face Biyana – a team that has legendary Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika on their books – also revealed that he had no hard feelings at having been overlooked for Warriors selection by German coach Klaus Dieter Pagels.
Former African Footballer of the Year Aboutrika is one of a host of big name players who have now taken their game to the United Arab Emirates where Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan and Portuguese Quarasma is also playing.
“I have no hard feelings at being left out of the national team. The coach has made his choices and we have to respect that and in fact I actually wish them the best in Egypt,’’ said Sadomba.
But after falling in the early stages in their last two attempts, the focus of the domestic football family will be firmly on Dynamos who are this year Zimbabwe’s sole representatives in the continental club competitions.
Online Reporter