Sun, 02 Jul 2017 11:10:39 +0000
By MICHAEL MIYOBA
NDOLA soccer giants Zesco United can still qualify to the quarter finals of the 2017 CAF Confederations cup despite having failed to collect maximum points in last Fridays clash against Egyptian Smouha FC, says head coach Zlatko Krmpotic.
The two teams shared the spoils in an intriguing fixture and maintained their winless run in two successive matches, following a 1-1 draw on match day five at the Arab El Borg in Alexandria, Egypt.
And speaking in a post-match interview after Zesco’s 1-1 draw with Egyptian side, Krmpotic said his team still had a very good chance of qualifying to the quarterfinals of the CAF Confederations cup despite having collected a point from the last two matches.
Krmpotic said that his team will have to collect maximum points in their last group C fixture to make it through to the quarter final stage. “Yes I believe we can qualify for the quarter finals. We are a big team and we play every game to win and we must win our next game to qualify. There are no two ways about it, “We must concentrate on our next game and our focus is to win it,” Krmpotic said.
Meanwhile Smouha coach Moamen Suliman hailed Zesco good performance in the 1-1 draw between the two teams.
Banou Diaware rescued a point for Smouha in stoppage time when he sent Zesco goalkeeper Jacob banda the wrong way from the spot after David Owino fouled Ahmed Aly in the eighteen yard area.
Suliman said Zesco was are good team with a strong squad. “Let me congratulate Zesco United for their good performance. They played well and deserve the points acquired. “We also did our best and played a well-organized football, it is unfortunate we couldn’t win. We created a number of chances but we ended up missing the final touch,” Suliman said. Zesco United will next Saturday host Al Hilal Al Ubayyid at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in a mast win encounter to progress to the Semifinals.
Meanwhile Recreativo do Libolo will face Smouha SC in another group C fixture to be played at Estadio Municipal de Calulo Angola.
