Black Bulls assistant coach Francisco Calisto has said the Mozambique champions dominated the CAF Confederation Cup group stage game which ended one-all against Al Masry on Sunday.
Mido Gaber scored for the Egyptians in the 10th minute and seemed headed for a win but the hosts had other ideas as they finally translated their dominance into a goal with Nene scoring two minutes into added time of the Group D match in Mozambique.
Statistics show that the Mozambique champions bossed the match with ball possession pegged at 61 percent, registering two shots on target against one and six corners versus one for Masry.
In an exclusive interview with Pan-Africa Football, Calisto said Black Bulls players started the game nervously but grew into the proceedings to dictate matters.
“It was a good performance,” Calisto said. “We managed to impose our way of play, especially in the second half. We went in perhaps a little nervous, which is normal given that it's only our second international game, but we quickly got on top of our opponents. In the second half, we completely dominated the game and could have come away with a win!”
The Mozambicans, who debuted in the Confederation Cup group stage with an away 2-0 loss to Zamalek, now face yet another tough opposition in Enyimba from Nigeria on December 15, 2024 in Maputo.
Looking ahead to the game, Calisto refused to set the target in what is a tough group for the two-time Mozambique champions who are barely seven years into their existence as a club.
He said: “We don't really like these predictions of how far we are going to go! We work day after day to be better than yesterday! We were unknown in Africa, we are a seven-year-old club and now here we are."
“Nobody would have guessed that despite the defeat we'd put in a good performance against Zamalek or that against Al Masry we would have 61 % of possession but here we are among the big boys, trying to carve out our place in the African soccer scene. How far can we go? I don't know, but certainly further than where we were yesterday.”
Coach Helder Duarte’s men have one point and sit bottom of the group that Zamalek lead on four points at par with second-placed Masry followed by Enyimba in third place with also one point.
Duarte and his technical team are credited with earning Black Bulls two domestic league titles, the first being in 2021 before the Portuguese mentor left and returned to win the latest league championship for the 2024 season.
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