HARARE City Football Club have intensified their preparations ahead of their maiden appearance in the Caf Confederations Cup with a number of friendly matches lined up.
BY HENRY MHARA
The Sunshine Boys begin their African sojourn with what appears a winnable home match against AS Adema of Madagascar in the preliminary round in a fortnight before the return fixture in Antananarivo two weeks later.
The winner of the encounter will play Zanaco of Zambia in the first round.
Ahead of AS Adema’s visit to the country, City have been busy with their preparations. They regrouped just after the festive season and have played the Warriors in a friendly and last week they faced-off with Chapungu FC.
They travel to Vengere Stadium today for a match against promoted Mutare City before wrapping up their preparations with two matches against Chicken Inn and Bulawayo City in Bulawayo next weekend.
Club secretary-general Mathew Marara yesterday said: “We would have preferred to play a team from outside the country to give the boys a feel of what to expect, but because of budget constraints we couldn’t. We are hoping though that the teams we have chosen for the friendly matches are going to give us the test we are looking for. It will give the technical team an idea on which areas in the team need to be addressed before we play AS Adema.”
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The team has assembled what looks like a very strong squad, adding to their list Ronald Chitiyo, Blessing Moyo, Edwin Madhanaga and Raphael Manuvire.
The quartet was on national duty with the Warriors at the African Nations Championship in Rwanda, and returned home on Thursday.
Harare City took a day off yesterday for a clean-up exercise at Charge Office bus terminus in Harare.
“As Harare City Football Club, we take pride in the sponsorship we are getting from the city council. We are aware that their budget comes from the residents so this is our way of saying thank you to our sponsor, but most importantly, to the residents. We are encouraging other clubs to do the same. I’m not just talking about doing a clean-up exercise, but to do some form of corporate social responsibility in their communities,” said Marara.
Meanwhile, the country’s representatives in the Caf Champions League Chicken Inn took their preparations to Zambia where they are involved in a four-team invitational tournament.
Other teams also participating are local champions Zesco and Zanaco and Tanzanian side Azam.
The Joey Antipas-coached side played a 2-2 draw against Zanaco on Wednesday and meet Azam this afternoon before concluding the tournament with what promises to be a thriller against Zesco on Wednesday.
