BY TERRY MADYAUTA
FC PLATINUM coach Lizwe Sweswe insists his side has improved despite losing on their opening 2019/20 CAF Champions League Group B assignment against Sudanese outfit Al Hilal in Omdurman on Friday evening.
The Zvishavane platinum miners suffered a 2-1 defeat at the Al-Hilal Stadium, with 2019 Soccer Star of the year finalist Never Tigere scoring their consolation nine minutes from fulltime after Mohamad Musa Eldai had scored a goal either side of the half for the hosts.
Despite getting their campaign off to a losing start, Sweswe however feels that his side has improved compared to last season when they made they debut in the group stages of Africa’s premier club competition.
In fact the former Tsholotsho mentor boldly declared that his side will account for the scalp of one of the so-called big names in the group. In another Group B encounter also played on Friday, Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia edged a ten-man Egyptian side, Al Ahly 1-0 with Yassine Chikhaoui scoring the solitary goal in the second half.
“We are playing tough opponents but this match was a good highlight of improvement. We tried all we could to at least get a point but unfortunately lady luck was not on our side,” said Sweswe.
“I think this time around are in good shape to grind better results compared to our last campaign. We lost but I chose to take positive from the overall performance because we performed better beside the fact that we did not utilize all our chances.
“Of course, we have a few areas to improve but I think we can do better infact we could have done. We now shift attention to the Premier Soccer League race and I hope we can get to win the remaining fixtures.”
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Last term, the platinum miners finished the group stages without a win while managing to score just two goals throughout the group campaign and conceding nine.
After the first round of fixtures, FC Platinum occupy third position with no point on their tally, while Al Ahly anchor the group, after a narrow 1-0 loss to Etoile Du Sahel.
Al Hilal are top of the group, while Sahel are second, both have three points but the former lead on goal difference.
FC Platinum will host Etoile Du Sahel in the next round of the group stage fixtures on December 7.
