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Uphill Task for Dynamos, How Mine in Africa Tourneys


Zimbabwe's representatives in Pan African football are hoping for a perfect start to their campaign which takes off the ground this weekend.

How Mine get into the stadium first at Barbourfields Stadium on Saturday while Dynamos take to the field the next day in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League.

How Mine entertain Tanzania's Chouni and coach Philani Ncube is proud of the team he has assembled for the tournament and is hoping for a goal harvest to take into the second leg of this CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round.

He says they have to control the game from the outset if they are to progress to the next stage of the competition.

How Mine, who have been very active on the transfer market acquiring such experienced players as Kuda Musharu from Monomotapa, Malvern Samaneka (Caps United), Benjamin Marere (Dynamos), Fungai Chirinda (Shabanie) as well as Godfrey Nguwodzawo (Harare City), do not have any immediate financial worries as they are being bankrolled by Mbada Diamonds.

Just like How Mine, Dynamos also had a hectic transfer period and team manager Richard Chihoro believes the team at their disposal is the best the Glamour Boys could have assembled and predicts a good run for the 1998 CAF Champions League finalists.

But coach Kalisto Pasuwa has warned against underestimating the little known Botswana's Mochudi Centre Chiefs, saying all opponents are dangerous.

Pasuwa says he has been telling his players that upon entry into the stadium both teams are on equal footing.

Club chairman Keni Mubaiwa has revealed that they are going to offer their players huge incentives to make them deliver good results.

While How Mine are taking part in Africa for the first time, Dynamos are seasoned campaigners in the African continent having reached the final of the Champions League in 1998, the semi-finals 10 years later and have also reached the mini-league stage on a number of occasions.

But Dynamos are hoping for a better show than they have done in the past three years in which they have failed to go beyond the second round of Africa's biggest and richest club football competition.

African football dictates that a team that does not win convincingly at home does not go further in competitions. So both How Mine and Dynamos have to come out with a glut of goals if they are dreaming of a good run.
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