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MEN ON A MISSION . . . AS Adema players train at Rufaro yesterday ahead of their CAF Confederation Cup showdown against Harare City at the same venue today

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
MADAGASCAN outfit AS Adema arrived in Harare yesterday afternoon aboard a chartered flight and boldly declared that they are here to win against Harare City.

The Indian Ocean islanders are looking to progress beyond the preliminary round, which they have never gotten past, all the times they have competed in the Confederation Cup.

They host City in the second leg match on 28 February but they want to return home with a victory in the bag.

The team had a training session for an hour at the match venue.

Coach, Menakely Ruffin, speaking through an interpreter, said they were here for business.

AS Adema are not new to Zimbabwean opposition after they played Lengthens in the same Cup in 2010 at the same stage and lost to the Happy People.

But the visitors feel this time around they will prevail.

“We want to win the game. We have played Zimbabwean opposition and lost five years ago but a lot has changed.

“The players and the coach are no longer the same.

“It is only the name Adema which is still the same. So we are confident that we would do well in this match,” he said.

The Malagasy outfit has won the domestic league three times and have featured twice in the Champions League.

The club also has four Confederation Cup appearances under their belt stretching from 2008, where they participated annually in the second tier CAF club competition.

However, on all those occasions they failed to progress beyond the preliminary round.

“We have played four times in this Cup and lost in the preliminary round. But this time we want to go further and we have to win this match away, not draw or lose by a small margin.

“We want to win.

“We want to do our best and we will not read much into the fact that Harare City are new in this tournament and are playing for the first time and don’t have experience like us.

“They will play their game and we will play our game,” he said.

The team, which came with a delegation of 40 people, is sponsored by the Airport Authorities of Madagascar and came aboard a chartered flight.

Immediately after the game today, they will return to the island nation after requesting their hosts Harare City to schedule for an early kick-off at 2pm.

AS Adema have two players in the Madagascar national team and the club is almost through with their domestic league as they have played 20 league games.

They are on fourth position with four more games to play before the season ends.

And the club is on course for another Confederation Cup appearance next season as they have reached the final of the major Cup final which presents a ticket to play in the Confederation Cup.