Dynamos coach Lloyd Chigowe is wary of the threat posed by Botswana's Orapa United, but remains confident that they will claim their historic ticket to the Group stage of the Caf Confederation Cup this afternoon
The two sides clash in Francistown with Dynamos the home team in the second leg of their preliminary round tie.
DeMbare go into the second leg riding on a 1-0 first leg win and are set to become the first Zimbabwe side to reach the group stage of both the Caf Champions' League and the Caf Confederation Cup
Chigowe said that they were prepared to give everything to win that ticket to the more lucrative league stage.
"We are ready to fight for our lives. We played the first half of this tie so tomorrow (today) it's the second half," he told the media yesterday.
"We know what to expect in the African jungle. Yesterday (Friday) we were denied entry into the stadium, so dirty tactics have already started. We would have loved to play this match at our home stadium, Rufaro. We will give everything to try and get to the group stages. We have an appreciation of how Orapa play and they also have an appreciation of how Dynamos play. We carry the squad of 22 players so whoever deserves to play will play tomorrow."
Chigowe has got the full complement of his squad to choose from after Issa Sadiki and Sadney Urikhob who missed last week's match because of injuries, returned to training this week.
Captain Frank Makarati is also confident that they will sail through.
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"We are ready to do what it takes to win this match tomorrow. The motivation is that we have to finish what we started," he said.
He told NewsDay Weekender that they were ready to shed sweat and blood to win this tie.
The defender also warned against complacency against a dangerous Orapa side.
"This is a match we have to win at all cost, we are prepared to leave everything on the field," he said.
"A win will mean a lot for the team and our supporters. As players, we want to play for our careers because a win will improve our CVs. Qualifying to the group stages will also put the country back on the football map. So there is a lot at stake in this match."
The defender admitted that they faced a tough contest against a good Orapa side thus will have to approach it with the seriousness it deserves.
"Orapa is a good side so we anticipate a very difficult match. We will have to concentrate for the whole 90 minutes because we know how dangerous they are. We won the first match, but there is still a lot of work to do. I have been telling the boys to guard against complacency.
"We have to take full control of the match from the start. Trying to defend the goal we scored last week would be suicidal. We can't defend for the entire match, it's almost impossible. We will have to try to take the game to them and look for a goal to kill them off. We have a game plan that the coaches are working with, and I'm sure if we execute it well, we will win.
"We were in the situation against Zesco. We went there with a game plan which we executed well and walked away with a result that we want. It's a different match altogether but we are confident that we will sail through."
Orapa United assistant coach Gadimang Tiiso is optimistic that his team can overturn the first leg deficit and go through to the group stages.
"We lost the match, but all is not lost," he told the Botswana media.
"Some of my players are not used to matches of this magnitude. But I want to believe that we dominated the first leg, we just didn't create many chances. The boys showed great amount of confidence. I treat the first leg as the first half. Going into the second leg, our aim is to build on the confidence that the boys showed. We lost by a slight mistake. Dynamos were also very compact and organised."
Valentine Kadonzvo scored a late winner in the first leg of the tie last Sunday.
Dynamos beat Zambian side Zesco United 1-0 on aggregate in the first preliminary round of the competition last month.
Teams that go through to the group stages are guaranteed $400 000, in addition to the $50 000 they got for participating in the preliminary round stage.
