By YVONNE SAKALA  –
NUMBA Mumamba this afternoon goes up against an old enemy in George Lwandamina as the Zambian champion seeks to make the Group Stage of the 2017 CAF Champions League.
Lwandamina battled with Zanaco for the Zambian league title over the last three years is now coach for Tanzanian giants Young Africans otherwise known as Yanga.
Lwandamina, as Zesco coach, won two of those battles for the title but lost last year’s to Mumamba who today leads Zanaco as they seek to defy odds.
Whereas Zanaco staggered to this first round of the competition with a 1-0 two-legged result over APR of Rwanda, Yanga stormed through with a 6-2 aggregate win over Ngaya of the Comoros Islands.
Mumamba however, refuses to take in the reminders that Yanga is a big team.
While his side has historically struggled in continental football and added to that their shaky off-season where they have lost a number of players, he say Zanaco will win today.
Mumamba had actually sneaked to Dar-es-Salaam to watch Yanga play rivals Simba, a game the Zanaco opponent today lost.
“We don’t have any pressure, the morale in camp is actually high. Our target is win tomorrow’s (today) game so that we don’t have enough pressure when playing the return leg,” Mumamba said.
The return game will be just a week away on March 18.
For this one, Zanaco will be without goalie Mangani Banda and Boyd Musonda, busy with the under-20 but the coach is happy he has available defender Zimisileni Moyo and forward Reuben Lyanga from Zimbabwe and Tanzania respectively.
Moyo has history with Zesco where he played under Lwandamina.
Zanaco are however constantly reminded by the Zambian fans of Lwandamina and Zesco as they look forward to seeing Zanaco equal or even better Zesco run from last year where they went up to the semi-finals of this competition.
But this is one thing Mumamba has refused to look at and insists Zanaco is a different club with different objectives and that he would take each game as it comes.
“We have done our part and we are ready for the game. We had enough time to prepare after the game against APR and we tried to polish up where we didn’t do well. Right now, everyone is looking good and fit for the game,” he says.
His opposite number Lwandamina kept his cards close to the chest saying his side was ready for the visit of Zanaco.
This would be Lwandamina’s first game against a Zambian opposition since joining the Tanzanian side towards the end of last season.
He charged that football was played, won or lost on the pitch and he would want to win this home tie.
“All in all, the game just has to go on, whether we are prepared or not, we will go ahead and play with the hope of recording a positive result of course,” he said.
The winner of both leg ties will progress to the expanded group stage of the competition while the loser will be relegated to the second round of the CAF Confederation Cup.