CONTROVERSIAL Seychelles referee Bernard Camille will take charge of the decisive African Champions League first round, second leg clash between Caps United and five-time African Champions TP Mazembe at the giant National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
He will be assisted by fellow countrymen Barra Allaister and Petrousse Danny with Pool Gerad coming in as the fourth official.
The Seychelles official hogged the limelight for the wrong reasons in Lubumbashi, DRC, three years ago after awarding TP Mazembe two controversial penalties in their Champions League clash against Orlando Pirates.
Pirates had the late goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa to thank after he proved his heroics between the sticks saving both penalties.
They had earlier suffered another blow when their captain Lucky Lekgwathi was controversially sent off by the Seychelles official.
TP Mazembe won 1-0 in the tempestuous match, but Orlando Pirates went through 3-2 on aggregate.
The Green Machine need at least a goalless draw or an outright win to advance to the lucrative group stage of the competition.
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The Zimbabwean champions are guaranteed a $550 000 windfall should they defy the odds and beat TP Mazembe to reach the group stage of the tournament.
And the club hierarchy has promised the players that they will share a total of $165 000 from that amount, which translates to about $5 000 per player.
Winners of this year’s Champions League will pocket $2,5 million. The runners-up will get $1,250 million, while the losing semi-finalists will get $800 000 each.
Lloyd Chitembwe’s men defied odds to hold the five-time African champions to a 1-1 draw last weekend, thus getting a crucial away goal that will come in handy in the reverse fixture on Sunday.
Abbas Amidu scored the all-important goal. Last season, TP Mazembe failed to make it to the group stages of the Caf Champions League after they were booted out by Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca.
Mazembe dropped to the Caf Confederations Cup, where in the group stages they won all their home matches against Mo Bejaia, Medeama and Tanzania’s Young Africans. Caps can draw inspiration from that.
