Zesco United return home from Egypt today with injured defender Billy Mwanza declaring that they will not disappoint in the Caf Confederation Cup.
Zesco will have another shot at reaching the group stage of a Caf club competition in the Confederation Cup in two weeks time after failing to do so in the Champions League group stage in July following their 1-0 loss on aggregate to Al Ahly of Egypt.
“We are ready to face any team because we played well in the Champions League but Al Ahly came with a strategy when their fans began throwing those fireworks,” he said.
“But we need to make sure we win at home because if you don’t it will be difficult to win away.”
Mwanza added that he was OK after a frightening experience when he was hit and cut on his right arm by a fire flare thrown by an Al Ahly fan from the stands on Sunday in Cairo.
Meanwhile, eight teams still in the Confederation Cup await another eight losers from the Champions League who include Zesco.
The teams are Sofapaka (Kenya), DC Motema Pembe (DR Congo), Kaduna United and Sunshine Stars both of Nigeria
DHJ and MAS both of Morocco, Primeiro Agosto of Angola and JSK of Algeria complete the teams likely to be drawn against Zesco or the seven sides relegated from the Champions League in Sunday’s draw in Cairo.
Still very proud of Zesco they made us proud to lose by only a slim margin.In the early and mid 90s Egyptian clubs like Zamalek,Al Ahly and Ismaily registered home and away victories over Zambian representaives like Nkana,Power,etc but now things have changed.It shows that also the calibre of both local managers and players is improving.Nchanga Rangers were the big disappointment but am still optimistic that Zesco will go one better than Zanaco did last season in the Cofederations Cup; am sure they have learnt a big lesson and that is scoring goals at home.
Don’t blame your loss on fireworks in Egypt! Were there fireworks in Zambia when you failed to score even a single goal? So what gaurantee is there you would have scored there. We all know of Arab intimidation so get used to it! As for Billy Mwanza LT said he fainted! lolÂ