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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor—
MAMELODI Sundowns’ fairytale success in the Champions League on Sunday night is set to help Khama Billiat make history by becoming the first Zimbabwean footballer to win the prestigious CAF award given to the best player in Africa. But there are fears the 26-year-old forward’s non-stop battles in the unforgiving trenches of international football could take a huge toll on him and affect his performance for the Warriors when they plunge into the Nations Cup finals in Gabon in January next year. Success in Alexandria on Sunday, where Sundowns defended a 3-0 first leg lead to win their first CAF Champions League trophy, means Billiat and his teammates have another high-profile tournament this year, when they fly to Japan in December to play in the FIFA Club World Cup.

For a club that has been playing top-flight football either at home or on foreign soil, non-stop, since August last year when the 2015-2016 South African Premiership got underway, plunging into another big global tournament in December will provide another huge test of the players — especially the stars who have been on the frontline — endurance.

The FIFA Club World Cup will be held from December 8-18 with Sundowns joining the party three days after the opening game, at the quarter-final stage, when they take on the winners of the qualifier between Auckland City of New Zealand, winners of the Oceania Champions League, and the team which will win the Japanese championship this year.

Kashima Antlers, Kawasaki Frontale and Urawa Diamonds are the three clubs who are in the championship phase in the battle for the Japanese title and one of them will take on Auckland City with the winners of that tie booking a quarter-final date against Sundowns.

Should the Brazilians win that match, they will then face Colombian side Atletico National, who won South America’s Copa Libertadores in July this year after edging Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle 3-2 on aggregate, in semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup in the Japanese city of Osaka on December 14.

The South American and European champions enter the competition at the semi-final stage, on the strength of their quality, and Spanish giants Real Madrid will be in action on December 15 in Yokohama. But even if Sundowns lose their quarter-final tie, they won’t pack their bags and return home given there is also a match for the fifth-place play-off which the two losing quarter-finalists have to battle in on December 14.

The South Africans will be hoping to make the same impression, at the FIFA Club World Cup, made by Congolese giants TP Mazembe,who defied the odds to reach the final of the tournament, beating Mexican side Pachuca in the quarter-finals and Brazilian club International in the semi-finals, to book a final date against Inter Milan.

Mazembe, though, were outclassed 0-3 in the final by the Italian giants. En-route to winning the CAF Champions League final in 2010, Mazembe had also fielded a Zimbabwean forward, Chris Semakweri, who came in as a late substitute in the first leg of the final against Tunisian giants Esperance which the Congolese giants won 5-0 to effectively end the match as a contest.

Semakweri did not feature in the second leg which ended 1-1 and was not part of the Mazembe squad for the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. Billiat, though, who was a key member of Sundowns’ success in the CAF Champions League this year is, barring any injuries, set to make the trip to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup just weeks before the Warriors plunge into their first match at the 2017 Nations Cup finals against Algeria in Gabon.

The diminutive forward, who was voted the best player in South Africa last season, has featured in the CAF Champions League, CAF Confederation Cup, Nations Cup, Nedbank Cup, Telkom Knockout Cup, MTN8 Cup, two South African league championships and is now set to play in the FIFA Club World Cup and the Nations Cup since August last year.

Warriors’ coach Callisto Pasuwa rested Billiat from his team’s Nations Cup qualifier against Guinea after arguing that his talisman — who scored three goals for in Zimbabwe’s successful quest for a place in Gabon and provided 12 goals and assists in Sundowns’ championship campaign — needed rest to recharge his batteries.

But, with tougher assignments coming thick and fast, Pasuwa will have to pray that Billiat won’t just avoid injuries, but will not be battered by the battles so much he won’t provide the Midas Touch, where he thrives on pace, by the time he arrives in Gabon.

Sundowns’ success on Sunday is set to bring, not only a R1 million bonus for Billiat, but recognition as the best player in Africa. “Khama Billiat’s heady next five months should start with him becoming a CAF Champions League winner on Sunday‚ which would in turn surely see him crowned Africa’s best local-based player for 2016,” respected journalist Marc Strydom noted.

“Crowned a Premier Soccer League champion as Mamelodi Sundowns’ best player of their campaign in May‚ then being duly awarded the PSL’s player of the season award‚ Billiat’s shooting star knows no bounds.

“His performances for Downs reaching the ACL final would see it a major surprise if the Zimbabwean does not win CAF’s local-based player of the year award. “He will follow up the CAF awards with Zimbabwe’s first appearance at an Africa Cup of Nations finals tournament in Gabon in January since 2006. Before that‚ there is the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December.”

And Billiat, as he proved in the CAF Champions League, isn’t a man who just wants to be there to make up the numbers. “If you look at it in that way‚ it’s very exciting. And at the same time it’s very tricky — you need to be on top of your game‚” he told Strydom. “It also tells me a story that I need to be focused. “Because I don’t want to be just going to the Nations Cup.”