KELVIN Bulaji has boosted Ngezi Platinum after shaking off an ankle injury which saw him miss the team’s trip to Angola for the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Confederations Cup first round, first leg match against Recreativo do Libolo.
BY HENRY MHARA
The striker resumed training with his returning teammates, who earned a valuable away goal, in the 2-1 loss in the first leg, and is set to start when the two teams meet at the National Sports Stadium tomorrow, for the return leg.
Bulaji suffered the injury in a home match against Mauritian side Pamplemousse in the reverse fixture and subsequently missed the trip last weekend, but the problem has cleared in time for him to face the Angolans.
Speaking to NewsDaySport yesterday, Ngezi Platinum coach Tonderai Ndiraya said Bulaji’s fitness had improved and he would be available for the match. He said he was happy with the development, and would now be able to plan his tactics for the game around his leading striker.
“He is training and is not showing any signs of pain. He has fully recovered and is available for selection on Saturday. It’s a huge boost for us because he has been our leading striker so far and his return gives us options upfront,” Ndiraya said.
The bad news in their camp is that Byron Madzokere has failed to recover from a recurring groin problem that also saw him missing the trip to Angola.
Ndiraya ruled the defender out of the match, which Ngezi Platinum need to win to advance to the next stage.
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Ngezi believes the away goal they scored will come handy on Sunday although they are still wary of the danger posed by the visitors.
“Their [Recreativo] players are huge and very athletic and are very dangerous in set-pieces. They are also very quick and have unbelievable stamina so we should be very focused throughout the match. They did not create any chance in open play and scored their two goals from set-pieces so they would want to use the same tactics here. We will have to be very strong in that area and we have been working on that. They are a very good and competitive side, like we expected, but they are beatable. If we can play to our ability, I don’t see them stopping us.”
Ndiraya wants an early goal to unsettle the visitors.
“We played well away, and showed great discipline in defending. But we will have to change the game plan now because we are playing at home. We have to be offensive and try to get a goal as early as possible. They have a result which they would want to protect and defend deep, but the only way to make them come out is to get a goal.
But at the same time we have to defend well because if they score, we will be in trouble.”
Ngezi Platinum could have returned home with a draw, but a last-minute goal by Terrence Dzvukamanja, when he tapped home a Godknows Murwira square pass, was controversially ruled out for offside.
“It was very unfortunate because we thought it was a genuine goal and we have the footage to prove it. There is nothing we can do about it though and what we need to focus on is the weekend game.”
Ngezi, who have been training in Mhondoro, were expected to shift base to Harare yesterday. Recreativo were also expected in Harare yesterday afternoon.
