African Stars of Namibia will play Power Dynamos of Zambia in the CAF Champions League’s preliminary round.
While the Namibian teams’ last appearance in a CAF competition was in 2020, Power of the MTN Super League last competed in the CAF Confederations Cup in 2015.
The victor of the two matches will play Tanzanian powerhouse Simba SC, who are off, in the opening round of the competition. The victor of this match advances to the group stage of the CAF Champions League.
Mwenya Chipepo, the coach of the Power Dynamos, stated in response to draws that his team would not underrate the champions of Namibia. He quickly acknowledged that they don’t know anything about African stars.
“We have observed that some of their players featured for Lusaka Dynamos and a few Zambians, they are a very motivated side, and for them to become champions means they are good side,” he told Kwhito FM in an interview.
According to the Power Dynamos tactician, there isn’t a much bigger divide between football in Zambia and Namibia.
“People think that just because we are facing Namibian opponents, then we have already won, but we are not going to underrate them because if you look at our history Power Dynamos last participated in continental Football close to 10 years ago.
“So, we are going there as newcomers and it’s not going to be easy……. And we are not even supposed to be overconfident because they are also champions. Namibia and Zambian Football there isn’t much difference because even Zambia [Chipolopolo] struggles against Namibia. So we just have to prepare well.
“Power Dynamos is still a work in progress”-Chipepo
“We won the League, with young stars, if you remember very well, Power Dynamos was struggling. We were using young players from our youth side, that’s why I feel that we are still a work in progress and our aim is definitely to reach to the level of the power dynamos of 1990,” he explained.
The Kitwe based have since added seven players to their squad ahead of the 2023/23 season. These include Cephas Mulombwa, Francis Zulu, Kondwani Chiboni, Salulani Phiri, Gong Bong, Dominic Chanda and Beby Onka Musangala.
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Power Dynamos will this coming weekend play against Simba SC in an international friendly match in Tanzania.