By KALUMIANA KALUMIANA –
POWER Dynamos kick off their 2015 CAF Confederation Cup campaign tonight with a preliminary round, first leg away date against Al Khartoum in Sudan.
. Chilumba
The game will mark coach Tennant Chulumba’s first continental outing with Power since taking charge of the Kitwe side in June, 2013.
This will also be the two sides first-ever meeting in continental football.
“We are very confident, we are very focussed and waiting for Saturday (today). We know that we will be playing away, we will not open up early, off course there is no need for us to defend, we will attack,” Chilumba said.
The former international midfielder also said: “The key to our success here will largely depend on the attitude of the whole team. The way these players will apply themselves, because we have discussed all that matters with them, we have trained well, and they are all looking forward and you can see that we have the right players to do the job, so they know the objectives that we have set, we want to go all the way to the final, meaning that we are looking beyond this game.”
Power will have only one absentee for the first leg match with new signing and striker Felix Sunzu staying home due to injury.
This evening’s game will also mark defender Christopher Munthali’s return to Power colours for the first time in three years after he was rejected and loaned out in 2012 to Nkana where he found fame and blossomed into a Chipolopolo prospect.
Power are making their third trip to Sudan where they have enjoyed mixed fortunes over the last 24 years.
Power’s last visit in 2001 left them overwhelmed by El Merreikh in the first round of the CAF Champions League who beat them 2-0 in Khartoum and 2-1 in Kitwe.
Power trace their last away win in Khartoum to 1991 in the second round of the old CAF Cup Winners Cup after defeating Al Ittihad 2-0 to advance 4-1 on aggregate on their way to lifting the title that year.
Power remain the only Zambian club to have lifted a continental club title to date.
Al Khartoum coach Kwesi Appiah said he was looking forward to his first continental match in charge since his appointment in December.
Appiah, who guided Ghana to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, warned his players against any complacency.
“It’s a dream for this club to go far in this competition,” Appiah said.
“It won’t be easy, Zambian football is hard, very technical, Zambian teams are always strong but the players understand what we want, they know the task at hand.”
Power will host Al Khartoum in the final leg on March 1 at Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe.
Winner over both legs will play either Polisi of Zanzibar or Gabonese club CF Mounana in the first round, first leg away in mid-March.
