FC Platinum players excused from Warriors camp

Fungai Muderere
FC PLATINUM players have been excused from Warriors camp amid revelations that they have been granted time to focus on their Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League journey where they are now set to fight it out against Simba FC of Tanzania in the last preliminary qualifier.

Last weekend, the Zimbabwe football champions took another step towards a fourth consecutive appearance in the Caf Champions League group stage, when they completed a double over Costa do Sol of Mozambique in a preliminary round second leg match at the National Sports Stadium.

It was FC Platinum’s eighth win in 28 Caf Champions League matches since 2012 when they made their debut with a preliminary round win over Green Mamba of Eswatini.

In the 34-member Warriors CHAN provisional squad FC Platinum have Petros Mhari, Raphael Muduviwa, Ralph Kawondera, Kelvin Madzongwe, Silas Songani and Stanley Ngala.

They have gone on to qualify for the group stage on three occasions and are now on the cusp of a fourth consecutive appearance in the lucrative Champions League phase.

Under the watchful eye of coach Zdravko Logarusic, Warriors started camp on Monday and they will break for the festive period between 21 and 27 December.

They will then group on 28 December until 15 January.

Madzongwe was spotted in Bulawayo on Tuesday and said they would join the Warriors camp at a later date.

“We have been in constant communication with Warriors team manager Wellington Mpandare after we were granted time to concentrate on our club Champions League campaign.

We were excused but we are surely itching to represent our country in national team colours,” said Madzongwe, a former Bulawayo City, Chicken Inn and Njube Sundowns holding midfielder.

Pure Platinum Play will play Simba to decide which team qualifies for the CAF Champions League mini league stage.
Platinum’s goalkeepers copach Tembo “Chokri” Chuma is in the senior national team setup in the same capacity and he is also yet to report for national duty.

The first leg tie between the miners and Tanzanians will be played on December 22 and the return match on January 5, 2021.

FC Platinum will be hoping to get even sharper as the tournament progresses given that they had been inactive all year until a fortnight ago when they visited Mozambique.

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