BY FORTUNE MBELE
UD SONGO………. (2) FC PLATINUM…… (0) 4 FC Platinum win 5-2 on goal aggregate TRIANGLE… (0) 1 AZAM FC………. 0 Triangle win 2-0 on goal aggregate
ZIMBABWE’s representatives in the African Safari, FC Platinum and Triangle, are through to the next stages of their respective CAF competitions after they both beat their opponents yesterday with the former playing away in Mozambique while the latter was at Barbourfields Stadium.
Rodwell Chinyengetere grabbed a hat trick with the other goal coming from Never Tigere as FC Platinum beat Mozambique’s UD Songo in their backyard at the Estádio do Ferroviário in Beira in the first round second leg of the CAF Champions League.
FC Platinum’s victory ensured another dance in the lucrative group stages of the CAF Champions League under new coach Lizwe Sweswe, who recently took over from Norman Mapeza.
The Zimbabwean champions won the first leg by a narrow 1-0 margin with Tigere scoring the solitary goal at Barbourfields two weeks ago.
UD Songo scored their two goals in the first half through Frank Banda and Cremildo Ernesto, and FC Platinum had to come back from behind to book another berth in the group stages of the continental showcase.
At Barbourfields, Triangle’s fairytale in their maiden appearance in the CAF Confederation Cup continued as they also dismissed Tanzanian giants Azam FC 1-0 with a late strike by in-form Trevor Mavunga four minutes before the final whistle in the first round second leg of the tournament.
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Mavunga added onto an away goal scored by skipper Ralph Kawondera two weeks ago at Chamazi Stadium in Dar es Salaam when the Lowveld side, last year’s winner of the Chibuku Super Cup, stunned Azam in front of their home crowd.
Coach Taurayi Mangwiro was happy with his side’s success so far.
“A good game for Triangle and tough luck to Azam; they are a very good team with technically sound players. We knew that what we needed to get right was our organisation whereby we did not want to give away anything cheaply. It was us having the better scoring opportunities which we failed to do justice to. It was good we managed to get the decisive goal towards the end of the match and it killed whatever hope Azam had,” Mangwiro said.
He added: “It is a great achievement. We do not want to restrict ourselves to the play-offs; if anything, we want to aim even higher. We could be new as a club to the Confederation Cup but we have experience if you look at the players. It has really helped us.”
Triangle had most of the scoring opportunities in the game through Mavunga, Allan Tavarwisa and Praise Tonha, but could not convert them until that last strike that made the difference, while Azam started off well playing a passing game but fizzled out deep into the game.
Their skipper Bruce Kangwa and fellow Zimbabwean Donald Ngoma, who played the entire 90 minutes, were low key.
Coach Etienne Ndayiragije said they had a good game but the best team emerged victorious.
“Today was a good game. The best team won. Congratulations to the coach. They got their chance and utilised it. My team underperformed today. We lost concentration. We wanted an early goal, but we somehow lost our organisation. Triangle was well-organised,” Ndayiragije said.
