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NewsDay

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Caps United ready to face TP Mazembe

Sport
CAPS United travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo tomorrow to face five time African champions Tout Puissant (TP) Mazembe in a Confederations of African Football (Caf) Champions League first round match, a clash of two teams on contrasting financial standings.

CAPS United travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo tomorrow to face five time African champions Tout Puissant (TP) Mazembe in a Confederations of African Football (Caf) Champions League first round match, a clash of two teams on contrasting financial standings.

BY HENRY MHARA

On one side is a fabulously-rich TP Mazembe, the perennial Congolese champions whose assets their opponents tomorrow Caps United and most African clubs can only dream of.

These include two private jets, a German-made Dornier 128 utility aircraft and 140-seater McDonnell Douglas MD-80, that the team uses for local and international trips. They also own several luxury busses.

The Lubumbashi-based side also has their own stadium, a state-of-the-art facility, with a sitting capacity of 20 000, built at a cost of $35 million, to add to a world class football academy housing over 2 000 future football stars.

Tout Puissant — a French phrase which means “Too Powerful” — is owned by the wealthy Moïse Katumbi, a Congolese businessman and a former governor.

His net worth is estimated at $60 million, and is credited for the team’s success which include winning the Champions League title five times, and becoming the first African team to play in the Fifa Club World Cup final in 2010.

Katumbi has invested heavily in the team by hoarding Congolese talent and augmented it with several players bought from across Africa and Europe.

Only two weeks ago, the club announced the capture of Belgium international and former Fiorentina and Genoa defender Anthony Vanden Borre (29) who arrived from Anderlecht.

He is not the only European at the club, with new coach Thierry Folger snapped up from France, appointed in February.

The club is one of the best paying in Africa with their returning captain Trésor Mputu was getting $10 000 per week during his first stint with the club.

Mputu left the club to join Angolan club Kabuscorp in 2014 but the marriage ended prematurely and the contractual dispute saw the talented striker forced to the sidelines for two years.

He re-joined Mazembe this year and the Caps United match would mark his return to competitive football for the idolised star.

In contrast, Caps United is expected to arrive in Lubumbashi aboard a 45-seater charter plane, a sign of their financial predicament.

The Green Machine decided to travel in the morning of the match and depart soon after to try and cut expenses on accommodation and meals.

And while Mputu was earning half a million annually, Caps United players are getting $12 000 for the same period on average.

The club struggles to pay its salaries and bonuses on time.

Their only tangible asset is a Toyota Coaster minibus, donated to them by Nyaradzo Funeral Services. The club’s president Farai Jere is a wealthy businessman, by Zimbabwe standards.

They hire training facilities and use the government owned National Sports Stadium for their home matches.

While odds appear to be blatantly against Caps United, going into the match the Green Machiine believe that on the field of player they are richer in resources and will look to send condemn Mazembe and its lavish spending to the Caf Confederation Cup.

Coach Lloyd Chitembwe has said his team does not feel intimidated by TP Mazembe’s status and is confident of his team’s chances in the tie.

“We know who TP Mazembe are and their status in African football, we know all about them. What should worry us more is what we are capable of doing. We should be worried about what we are doing and for us the spirit within the group is good and the players are united. They (players) look at this as an opportunity and that alone as a coach you get to appreciate and see that you have got a chance,” Chitembwe said at the club’s press conference this week.

He said preparations for the match had gone very well, except that defender Ronald Pfumbidzai, who has been struggling with an injury, was highly likely to miss the trip.

He is the only player in the squad doubtful for the trip, while chief striker Leonard Tsipa is unregistered for the competition.