Gallants hope for ‘kind’ Confederation Cup draw

Marumo Gallants technical director Harris “TV4” Choeu says they are hoping for a kinder CAF Confederations Cup draw compared with last season. Then, they were drawn with some top teams in the early stages of the competition.

It will be the second successive season for the team in the continental tournament.

Gallants also had a torrid time in their first campaign — a harrowing weeklong debut when they travelled to Equatorial Guinea to face Futuro Kings with only 13 players and no goalkeeper.

This was due to Covid-19 protocols, visa complications and unreasonable travel difficulties. 

“Last season we had a tough draw and group from the word go. We faced tough teams like AS Vita and TP Mazembe from Congo DR, and we all know those are giants of African football,” said Choeu.

“Maybe this year the draw could be kind to us in preliminary stages and hopefully we get teams from Swaziland, Lesotho or Botswana as we build up.

“What we are trying to do is to build a solid team. We managed to keep 80% of our players. Our star midfielder Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo is staying with us. We are not going to take a lot of rejects from other teams.

“We only managed to lose one or two players, and those players were not active. We only lost Miguel Timm to Orlando Pirates and Lerato Lamola, whose age is no longer on his side.

“We released him and he is a free agent now. We are looking to sign more players and strengthen the team. The Caf Confed Cup is going to be very taxing again. 

“We signed players that we needed in key positions, like upfront with the strikers. We only had Junior Dior and the rest were not to Junior’s level,” added Choeu.

“We are just looking for two experienced players. The youngsters we just signed are for the future. We are looking for a striker and holding midfielder. But our team will be ready for the Confederation Cup. We are also trying to fill the position that was left by the departure of Timm. We also need a centre back.

“We only signed Riyaaz Nell from Santos and he’s been with us for some time. He could not play in the Nedbank Cup because he is cup tied,” the former Mamelodi Sundowns attacking midfielder added.

The club has also unveiled three unknown players, Sam Nkomo, Koketso More and Lesiba Nku, in an effort to beef up the side.