Zesco United are staring an early continental club exit when they meet Warri Wolves of Nigeria on Saturday at Arthur Davies stadium in Kitwe.
Zesco trail Wolves 3-0 from the two sides Caf Confederations Cup first round, first leg match played on March 21 in Warri.
Fighton Simukonda’s side need to score at least four goals without reply to overturn that result to continue with their Confederations Cup campaign.
Zesco, who were on a preliminary round bye, have never failed to advance in their last three African club cup campaigns since making their debut in the 2007 edition of the same competition.
An early exit will be a big blow to Zesco that will come just a season after making history when they became the first Zambian club to reach the lucrative stage of the Caf Champions League.
Meanwhile, Wolves coach Lawrence Akpokona is looking to exorcize ghosts from his last meeting with a Zambian opponent last year in the same competition when he was coach of Ocean Boys.
Ocean Boys were eliminated from the Confederations Cup by Red Arrows who had beaten the Nigerian club 2-0 in Lusaka but lost away by the same margin to finish 2-2 on aggregate.
Arrows advanced via post-match penalties that finished 3-2 in Nigeria.
Akpokona is hoping this will not be another case of De ja Vu should Zesco get three goals and force another penalty shootout decider.
Winner over both legs will face either CAPS united of Zimbabwe or Moroka Swallows of South Africa in the second round at the end of this month.
I can only wish them good luck.