CAFCL: Power Dynamos didn’t plan for penalties ahead of ASEC win – Mutapa

Power Dynamos FC coach Oswald Mutapa says his team did not practice taking penalties after the Zambian Super League champions progressed to the final preliminary round of the CAF Champions League after a thrilling two-legged tie against ASEC Mimosas, which ended 1-1 on aggregate.

In the first leg at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, Power Dynamos won 1-0, thanks to Innocent Kashita’s first-half goal. In the second leg on Sunday, ASEC levelled the aggregate score with a 1-0 win in Abidjan, courtesy of a Fofana goal.

The intense match saw two red cards for ASEC’s Seydou Lamine Sacko and Power’s Dominic Chanda.

Moses Shumah scored opening penalty for Dynamos

The tie was ultimately decided in a nail-biting penalty shootout, where Moses Shumah scored the opening penalty, followed by Titus Chansa, Kondwani Chiboni, Samuel Ayodeji Bamidele, and Chifundo Mphasi.  Lawrence Mulenga was the match hero, saving Romaric Amoussou’s penalty to send Power Dynamos into a frenzy.

“It was a tough game, I think we played a game of two halves, which were critical in our movement to the next stage, we didn’t play very well here, we didn’t have moments especially in terms of possessing the ball, our team is ball playing team, but we didn’t manage to do that much today (Sunday),” Mutapa told reporters after the game.

“I will say my team didn’t do a lot of what we like doing, but I think kudos to the boys, they kept their energy levels high to make sure that we qualify. Even after we conceded, after one of my player didn’t track the runner, but this is football.

“We had so many options to qualify to the next stage, we could lose, and still qualify, we could take it to penalties, we could draw, we could lose 2-1 and qualify on goal aggregate, but this is football we have won through the penalties, and very happy we have progressed to the next stage.”

Dynamos will face Ugandan side Vipers SC in next round

On whether his team had trained on penalties ahead of the game, he said: “We didn’t plan for penalties, but that was one of the options, as regards to the whole game, but we came here to get a result, which I think we have managed to get, we lost 1-0, but went to penalties and won, we didn’t plan for penalties, neither did we pick players that were going to take penalties.

“We came here with one motive, we had to qualify, and qualifying by playing football and trying to win, and even if we were going to lose, we wanted to lose but qualify.”

The victory propelled Dynamos to the next round, where they will face off against Ugandan Premier League champions Vipers FC. Dynamos will first travel to Vipers’s turf during the weekend of 17 to 19 October, 2025, before hosting the second preliminary return leg a week later.

The winner between the two will qualify to the group stages of the Champions League.

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