Marumo braced for tougher ties in CAF group phase
Gallants overcome Libyans as Royal, City bite dust in Confed Cup
Marumo Gallants coach Dan Malesela says tougher challenges await his side in the CAF Confederation Cup after they managed to qualify for the group stages.
Malesela’s troops lost 0-1 to Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli away in the first leg but bounced back in the return leg on Wednesday at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng by winning winning 3-0 courtesy of goals from Monde Mpambaniso, Celimpilo Ngema and Ranga Chivaviro.
The win ensured Gallants advanced to the group stage with a 3-1 aggregate score.
Reaching the group stages of the Confederation Cup is a big deal for the Limpopo-based side. However, Malesela is not over the moon yet as the journey on the continent begins to get tougher.
“For me, it’s still early days, there’s a lot to work on. We need to get certain things right before we even try to jump. So I don’t want to draw much into this and start getting excited.
“Tougher challenges are coming up. I’m trying to be very cautious in terms of my assessment of the games.
“Yes, it was difficult in Libya with all sorts of things that they did; the throwing of firecrackers to the goalkeeper, bottles thrown on the field, and all of that and very difficult referees. We shouldn’t get too carried away,” Malesela said.
He said he would use this Fifa World Cup break to look for new talent to bolster his squad so they can be able to compete on all fronts.
“We also try to look for fresher blood; we need to look for players. There’s somewhere where we are limited, so we need to see if we can get good players in.”
Meanwhile, there were exits for Royal AM and Cape Town City from the competition. City were knocked out by USM Alger, while Royal AM was shown the door by TP Mazembe.
Thwihli Thwahla co-coach Abram Nteo said the experience of playing in the Confederation Cup was good
“I’m very proud to play teams like that (TP Mazembe). It’s a good experience. It motivates the boys and shows them that they can compete. I’m saying to them they have done so well until now, even though we didn’t qualify for the groups but you could see that they wanted to qualify,” Nteo said.
Sixteen teams have qualified for the group phase of the competition and the draw will be conducted on November 16 at CAF headquarters in Cairo.
‘‘ It’s still early days, there’s a lot to work on