Cape Town City have reacted to their preliminary round draw against Congolese opponents, AS Otoho D’Oyo, in the 2022-23 CAF Champions League.
The Citizen’s publicist Julian Bailey described the draw as a bit of ‘a surprise’ but not ‘too bad’ either.
“We kept an eye on the CAF draw,” he tells FARPost. “At the time, we were at the stadium ready to play a league match [against Moroka Swallows], but when the draw came out, we were very surprised. However, we feel it is not bad a draw for us.”
Bailey said they have researched their opponents and now realise that apart from the technical point of view, they also need to get ready logistically.
“Of course, it is a difficult place to get to from South Africa, so we will have to fly probably via Ethiopia. We have done a bit of research. There will be a bus drive from the airport to get to the town. It would probably take some three to four hours,” he said.
The media officer said the Blue and Gold Army has also researched the CAF Champions League matches pitting Otoho D’Oyo against Mamelodi Sundowns in 2019, hoping to learn from the DStv Premiership champions’ experience.
He was referring to the games that saw the Congolese side defeat the Tshwane outfit 2-1 at home and then lost 4-0 in South Africa in the preliminary round matches of the 2019 edition of the continental football showpiece.
“We have seen they played Sundowns a few years ago. They beat Sundowns in Congo and lost 4-0 here in South Africa, so for us, it will be crucial to win at home and try to see what we can get away. So, from a logistical point of view, it would be important to manage the travelling very well and try to find the best possible route,” Bailey added.
The draw took place at CAF headquarters in Egypt, where Royal AM were paired against Eswatini league giants Mbabane Highlanders in the Confederation Cup preliminary round.
The overall winner between Cape Town City v D’Oyo will date either Black Bulls of Mozambique or Petro Atletico from Angola.
Other notable fixtures in the Champions League feature Zamalek versus Elect-Sport from Chad, Tanzania’s Simba take on Malawi champions Nyasa Bullets.
First round games will take place at home on the weekend of September 9, then away on the weekend of 16, 2022.
This will be followed by the second round scheduled for the weekend of October 7 at home and October 14 in the reverse fixture.
Wydad Casablanca of Morocco are the defending champions of the continental league title.
RB Berkane, also from the same North African nation, are the Confederation Cup kings.
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