Africa: Zesco Vow to Make Amends

26 May 2011

ZESCO United coach, Fighton Simukonda has said his charges need to beat Moroccan side, Maghreb Association Sportive (MAS) convincingly in Sunday’s Orange CAF Confederation Cup round of 16 first leg to compensate for the Champions League failure.

Having been given a second chance to compete on the continental stage after exiting the Champions League, Simukonda said Zesco could not afford to make mistakes at this stage as they aim for a big home win in Ndola.

In an interview after yesterday’s training session at Musa Kasonka in Ndola, Simukonda said his technical staff’s focus was to sharpen the frontline which had been missing several scoring chances in the past games.

“We need to utilise our chances and score more goals at home so that we compensate for the Champions League failure,” Simukonda said.

He said the defence and all departments of the team were receiving adequate attention to ensure the squad was ready for the MAS showdown.

Simukonda said with the depth of manpower in his squad, competition was high among the players and that the response was encouraging.

With striker Alfred Luputa still out with an injury, Simukonda got some relief with the return of veteran defender Billy Mwanza last weekend and midfielder, Potipher Zulu who trained with the rest of the squad yesterday after shrugging off a groin injury.

The former Zambia trainer and defender assured the nation that Zesco was working hard to make amends after the loss to six-time African champions, Al Ahly of Egypt in the Champions League earlier this month.

Zesco will host MAS on Sunday at Trade Fair Grounds in Ndola before heading to the Moroccan city of Fes in a fortnight with the winner qualifying to the group stage.

MAS are expected to arrive in Ndola tomorrow.

AllAfrica – All the Time