By Mubukwanu Kaingu
Red Arrows on Friday night hope to become the first Zambian club to qualify for the CECAFA Club Cup final when they face Al Wadi of Sudan in the semifinals at Azam Complex in Dar es Salaam.
In the 50 years of one-off CECAFA club cup participation, no Zambian club has played in the final with notably, Green Buffaloes and Green Eagles finishing third in 1980 and 2019 respectively.
Arrows qualified to the semifinals as the best second-placed side in the group stages with two wins and a defeat at the twelve-team tournament Tanzania is hosting from July 9-21.
Chisi Mbewe’s side also plays an undefeated Al Wadi which clinched Group C on 7 points and the Arrows boss admits their opponents are an unknown quantity.
“A tricky game but we are trying to gather some info about our opponent,” Mbewe said.
“It is a great motivation to reach this far now the players are looking to qualify for the final.”
Arrows are also on a mission to redeem themselves as they face their second Sudanese opponents at the CECAFA.
This is after Arrows suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss to Sudan giants Al Hilal in their penultimate Group B fixture on July 13.
“It is not going to be easy but we want to ensure that we qualify for the final of the tournament,” Mbewe said.
But Arrows must improve especially in attack where they have just two goals with the same 1-0 group stage wins over Gor Mahia of Kenya and Djibouti champions Sabeih.
It also doesn’t help that Arrows’ striker Ricky Banda is unavailable for the tournament as he is being rested as a precautionary measure to be ready for August’s Charity Shield and CAF Champions League engagements.
And so the options like Alassane Diarra have yet to find the target at CECAFA where Anthony Shipanuka and veteran James Chamanga have so far scored a goal each.
The winner of the Arrows -Al Wadi tie will play the semifinal winner of the Al Hilal versus Rwanda’s APR in the final this Sunday.
