Royal AM Wary Of Zambian AFCON Star

Royal AM co-coach Abram Nteo says they have to be at their best to stop experienced Zambian star Rainford Kalaba at the Moses Mabhida Stadium tonight (19:00) after he did the damage in Lubumbashi last week.

The 2012 African Cup Of Nations winner scored the second goal in the first leg of their play-off for the CAF Confederations Cup group stages, as TP Mazembe beat Royal AM 2-0 at the TP Mazembe Stadium in Congo.

The Congolese giants are coming to Durban to protect their lead, as they set their eyes on the Confed Cup group stages.

“He is an experienced player, a very good player and when they put him in he is the one who changed the game,”  Nteo told gathered journalists.

“On the first goal he took a shot then the goalkeeper saved it, someone finished it but the second you see the experience lacking in our defense.”

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The 36-year-old, who has represented Zambia over 100 times and won the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, knows this competition well, having won it twice with Mazembe, in 2016 and 2017.

He was also part of the Mazembe side that won the CAF Champions League in 2015, the last time the Congolese giants won the CAF premier club competition.

“His experience is something we need to make sure that we take care of him,” added Nteo.

“We are playing a good team, most of them are very good. You can see even some of them are playing in the national team.”

However, Nteo is confident his side can turn around the 2-0 deficit even though Thwihli Thwahla will have to score three unanswered goals if they are to make it to the group stages of the competition.

“Difficult game now because we have to score more than two goals,” said Nteo.

“We told the boys that we need to attack when we start and score goals. While we attacking, we need to be careful not to concede a goal but look we know how important it is to make sure that we win the game and it’s important for everyone.

“So we will go there and make sure that we win the game, especially with more than three goals.”