ZIMBABWEAN champions FC Platinum face a huge challenge in their bid to make a mark in African club football after they were paired against Angolan giants Deportivo Lero Agosto in the preliminary round of the 2018 Total Caf Champions League campaign. BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
According to the draw conducted at the meeting of the Caf Interclubs Committee at the Caf Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday, coach Norman Mapeza and his men get their campaign underway with a trip to Luanda during the weekend of February 9-11, before hosting their opponents the following weekend.
Should FC Platinum overcome the Angolan champions, they will face the winner between South African side Bidvest Wits and Pamplemousse of Mauritius in the first round.
Deportivo de Agosto look formidable opponents with a record of 11 league titles since 1979 and have won back-to-back titles in the past two years.
The Angolan champions are also seasoned campaigners in African football, having made eight appearances in the prestigious tournament.
They also reached the quarter-finals of the lucrative tournament in 2009, suggesting they are a giant in African football.
In contrast, FC Platinum failed to make an impact the few times that they participated in the African safari.
They did not make it to the group stages of the Champions League in their maiden appearance in 2012 after falling to Al-Merreikh of Sudan.
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In 2015, they played in the Caf Confederation Cup tournament, but their performance wasn’t any better.
Mapeza’s men bowed out in the first round following a humiliating 5-1 aggregate defeat to Young Africans of Tanzania.
They are, however, looking to improve on that performance this time around, and Mapeza is building a team that he thinks can compete with the continent’s finest.
He has looked to West Africa to strengthen his squad for the campaign, and is currently assessing two strikers from that part of the continent.
Ghanaian striker, Ibrahim Dauda arrived in the country yesterday before proceeding straight to Zvishavane, where he is set to undergo trials.
Dauda joins Cameroonian teenager Albert Eonde who flew into the country a few days ago.
FC Platinum are also targeting several local players, including Highlanders captain Rahman Kutsanzira, and the Ngezi Platinum pair of full-back Qadr Amin and midfielder Liberty Chakoroma, among others.
Angolan sides have proved tough opponents for local teams in recent years.
Dynamos were knocked out of the Caf Confederations Cup in 2012 by Interclube, and only last year, Ngezi Platinum were bundled out of the same competition by Clube Desportivo do Libodo.
There is no representative for Zimbabwe in the Caf Confederation this year after relegated Harare City pulled out from the draw.
The Sunshine Boys won the ticket to represent the country after winning the Chibuku Super Cup, but were pressured to pull out by Harare mayor Ben Manyenyeni, who questioned the team’s spending habits.
