Cape Town - Royal AM will hope to get their CAF Confederation Cup campaign up and running when they host Mbabane Highlanders at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban tomorrow afternoon in a First Preliminary Round second leg clash.
The Durban-based side have the upper hand after the first leg ended 0-0 last weekend. While Royal AM will back themselves to win the game, all does not appear to be well in their camp. It remains to be seen how this may affect their performance in the game.
According to reports this week, co-coach Dan Malesela is unhappy with suggestions that he could be headed back to Marumo Gallants, who he surprisingly left at the end of last term.
Even though Thwihli Thwahla have held their own on the field this season, internal chaos appears to be affecting them. At the end of last season, they saw the coach John Maduka join Maritzburg United while their top scorer Victor Letsoalo also left. Letsoalo was the second highest scorer in the league last season and has since resurfaced at Sekhukhune United.
More recently, club CEO Sinky Mnisi held a personal press conference where he stated that he would be going on “special leave”. Earlier this month, Royal AM Chairman Andile Mpisane was named on the bench in the club’s KZN derby game against Richards Bay.
While Mpisane, the son of Royal AM President Shawn Mkhize did not take to the field, fans were left perplexed by the decision. Mpisane has played a few competitive games for the club when they were plying their trade in the GladAfrica Championship but was clearly not at the level required to play professional football.
As Malesela is known to be a traditional football tactician, such a decision is likely to have frustrated him even though the club’s stance may be otherwise.
Even though the Royal AM camp is not well, they can take confidence from the fact that Eswatini-based Highlanders have a poor record in continental competition. In three previous appearances in the Confederation Cup, they have never progressed beyond the preliminary round.
@EshlinV