NAPSA Stars Coach Mohammad Fathi believes that it is good for his side to meet strong teams in the first round of fixtures because it will help the team to prepare for continental assignments.
Fathi was speaking in an interview with the ZamFoot Crew, reacting to the released 2020-21 MTN/FAZ Super League fixtures by the Football Association Of Zambia (FAZ) earlier today.
“It is good to meet strong sides in the first week of the league because that is also part of preparations for Continental competition,” Fathi said.
The Pensioners’ first 5 league matches look tough on paper because after locking horns with Zesco United at home in Week 1, they will have a short trip to Heroes Stadium to take on Lusaka Dynamos before welcoming Young Green Eagles at home followed by tricky encounters away to Buildcon in Ndola and they will wind up their Copperbelt tour with a visit to Arthur Davies Stadium against Power Dynamos.
However, Fathi feels that it will be a good test for his lads and has described these fixtures as being fair while mentioning that his team is ready and that they will keep motivating the players.
“The team is ready, we are almost there we just need to keep motivating the players, they did very well last season. Next month we are going for continental and we shall keep motivating them and winning is part of it,” he said.
Coach Fathi’s target for this season is to fight for the league and also secure group stage qualification in the CAF Confederations Cup for his team who almost won the league last season missing only by a whisker as Nkana emerged Champions.
“Our target is to fight and win the league this season, we have to maintain our CAF slot and also we want to push the team and reach the group stages of the Confederations Cup,” Fathi told the ZamFoot Crew.
FAZ earlier today availed the fixtures for the 2020/2021 MTN/FAZ Super League after they were cleared by the Executive Committee. The season will Kick-off on 31st October 2020
IT'S ZESCO UNITED!!!
Here is our first League game scheduled for 31st October 2020.
We host Zesco United. pic.twitter.com/YzZ7JTBEuh
— NapsastarsFc (@napsastars_fc) October 26, 2020
