SIMBA Sports Club coach Patrick Aussems says his team is planning to beat Nkana in Kitwe to make qualification to the group stage of the CAF Champions League easy. The two teams clash in the first leg, first round preliminary match in Kitwe on Saturday with the second leg to be played in Dar-es-Salaam next weekend to decide who qualifies to the lucrative group stages of CAF premier club competition.
The Tanzanian giants boasts of stars such as Zambian midfielder Clatous Chama, Ghanaians Nicholas Gyan, James Kotei and Emmanuel Okwi and Taifa Stars captain John Bocco in its ranks.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Aussems told reporters in Tanzania before flying to Zambia that the match in Zambia would be tough because information he got about Nkana indicates that the Zambian team were equally a good team.
“We understand [sic] the situation that Nkana will be our next opponent before playing our away match against Mbabane Swallows, so we tried to seek some important info about them,” Aussems said.
Simba thrashed Swallows 4-0 away in Mbabane in the preliminary round second leg match to get to this stage while Nkana beat Mozambique’s UD Songo 3-1 on aggregate.
“It will be a tough match because Nkana is a good team with some top and quality players but we have also good players. Our aim is to qualify to the next stage so winning away would be an important thing for us to complete our mission,” added Aussems.
Zesco United will face TP Mazembe in the first leg in Lubumbashi on Sunday, Green Buffaloes will be in Tunisia against giants Sfaxien in the Confederation Cup while Green Eagles face Hussein Bay of Algeria.