Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZAMBIAN giants Zanaco will be hoping to wrap up their “successful” pre-season tour of Zimbabwe with a win over Chicken Inn in an international friendly at Luveve Stadium this afternoon.
The two sides are meeting for the second time in two years, having faced off in a four-team tournament in 2016 held in Ndola where they drew 2-2.
Zanaco, who arrived in the country last week, won their two friendly matches in Zvishavane, beating Ferroviaro De Beria of Mozambique 4-1 and FC Platinum 4-0.
Mumamba Numba, Zanaco’s coach, is happy with the pre-season preparations and believes Chicken Inn will give them a good game.
“I’m happy with our pre-season tour of Zimbabwe. I think we’ve faced the much needed resistance for the team in matches we’ve played. Tomorrow we face Chicken Inn in what should be a tough game because we’ve played Chicken Inn before. They’re a very organised team and we believe they are going to give us help in gaining the much needed fitness before we play our first Champions’ League game on the 10th of February,” said Numba.
Zanaco will head to West Africa to face Gambian Armed Forces in the first round of the preliminary stage, with the winner between the two sides facing either Batu FC from Lesotho or Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland.
Against Chicken Inn, Numba will field his new signings, who include Zimbabwean winger, Tafadzwa Rusike.
Zanaco are also home to former Motor Action and Tsholotsho FC utility player, Zimiseleni Moyo.
“Tomorrow we’re not necessarily going for a win; what we’re looking at is how each and every player is fusing in the team. We’re looking at a few players we’ve added, how these players are responding, especially tactically when we’re in possession of the ball and when we have lost the ball. These are the small principles of football that we’re very interested in as we observe the play of these new players,” Numba said.
Zanaco have signed Suliman Mousa from Cameroon, Bernard Oforie of Ghana and two unnamed players from DRC.
For Chicken Inn coach, Joey Antipas, the international friendly is meant to assess his players’ fitness levels and try new combinations.
“What we want is to see how the players are responding to pre-season training and we will get an opportunity to check how the new faces are fitting into the style we want to play. Zanaco are a competitive side and they will give us the challenge we want to test our character,” said Antipas.
New faces at Chicken Inn include midfielder, Simon Munawa who was offloaded by Highlanders, Wellington Kamudyariwa, Obriel Chirinda, who was at South African side Ubuntu FC, ex-Tsholotsho utility player Xolani Ndlovu and former How Mine central defender Kudzi Chideu.
Chicken Inn players from last season expected to feature this afternoon include veteran Clemence Matawu, striker Obidiah Tarumbwa, Moses Jackson, Thabani Goredema, last season’s PSL Goalkeeper of the Year Elvis Chipezeze, Divine Lunga and George Majika. — @ZililoR
derick.khumalo