Andrew Muchineripi Soccer
Manning Rangers’s coach Gordon Igesund is a born optimist, who refuses to accept that his club cannot book a place in the African Champions League final on Sunday.
The Mighty Maulers from Durban share first place in Group B with Asec of Cte d’Ivoire on 10 points and have a marginally better goal difference – plus four to plus three.
Simplified, this means that if Rangers match whatever result Asec achieve in the final series of mini-league fixtures they will qualify for the two-leg final and collect a $225E000 prize.
The catch is that while Rangers must tackle defending champions Raja Casablanca in Morocco, Asec have what appears on paper to be an easier match in Tanzania against Young Africans.
Raja have won the leading continental club competition twice, boast a home record of 13 victories, one draw and two losses and a 35-4 goal tally, and possess a prolific scorer in Reda Erriyahi.
Young Africans have made far more appearances in the annual competition than Raja, without coming close to lifting the title and are the only mini-league qualifiers without a victory.
However, Igesund insists that he would prefer to face Raja than Young Africans, basing his belief on the fact that the Moroccans play a style of football that suits Rangers.
“Raja are a team who like to play football rather than attempt to physically intimidate you,” he says. “Young Africans and Asec are more robust teams who can upset my players.”
Stopping just short of calling his players soft, Igesund said the African Champions League had been an eye-opener in terms of the physical side of the game.
“Elbows were constantly flying when we played Asec in Abidjan and this was a factor in our defeat,” the coach admitted. “We have gradually learned to fight for our rights.”
Igesund is convinced Raja, who cannot retain the title won last December after a penalty shootout with Obuasi Goldfields of Ghana, will concentrate on a passing game.
He is equally convinced that the South Africans will be properly treated in Morocco after extending a warm hand of friendship to the Casablanca club when they visited Durban two months ago.
Rangers’s first mini-league encounter last August took them to Tanzania and close encounters of the unwelcome kind with prostitutes who took some convincing that “no” meant just that.
There were also tales of cockroach-riddled food and damp hotel rooms plus decade-old “dirty tricks” like the bus arriving one hour late for training while footballers became hot and bothered kicking their heels.
The overall result was an extremely lacklustre performance and a fortunate draw earned through a goal with just two minutes left from Zimbabwean striker Gilbert Mushangazhike.
Rangers performed much better in Ivory Coast, wasting four good scoring opportunities, before an own goal by captain Mark Davies sealed their fate in a 3-1 defeat.
While Igesund is naturally confident, he is under no illusions that Raja will simply surrender, citing the pressure on new Yugoslav coach Slavo Muslin to achieve results at an extremely demanding club.
The man Rangers must shackle is diminutive Erriyahi, who scored four goals in 19 minutes against Young Africans in Casablanca and another two in the return match.
His four-goal haul, a competition record, was equalled two weeks ago by Keryn Jordan, whose recovery from injury has brought new life to an attack that had averaged a goal a game before Young Africans arrived in Durban.
Igesund will name his team one hour before the kickoff and it is unlikely to differ much from: Grant Johnson, Moeti Khasu, Mark Davies, Bradley Muir, Robbie Milne, Clinton Larsen, Warren du Pont, Xolisi Mchunu, Innocent Chikoya, Solo Ndimande and Kerryn Jordan.
The other group is more clearcut with Hearts of Oak from Ghana needing at least a two-goal victory over Dynamos in Harare to prevent the Zimbabweans reaching the final for the first time.
Dynamos held Hearts 1-1 in Ghana and with midfielder Memory Mucherahowa and striker Makwenje Soma-Phiri back from suspension, the odds heavily favour a home victory.