CAPS UNITED assistant coach Fungai Tostao Kwashi says the Green Machine will not want to be a version of English champions Leicester City who are performing well in the UEFA Champions League but are failing to cope with pressure on the domestic front.

Although Leicester City are in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, Claudio Ranieri’s men are struggling on the local front where they find themselves 15th on the table and just six points out of relegation after 20 rounds of action.

The Zimbabwean league champions will this year also look to mount a two-pronged challenge beginning with the Caf Champions League preliminary round clash against Lesotho’s Lioli in the CAF Champions League next month.

The Harare giants won the 2016 Premiership title, ending 11 years of bareness.

They want to retain the title and are aiming even higher this year with a Champions League quarterfinal berth their primary target.

Caps United assistant coach Kwashi told Sportszone that 2017 will be a testing year for his side.

The former winger feels the intensity of the games will be taxing and would not want their team to go the way of Monomotapa, Gunners and Motor Action who struggled and eventually got relegated after participating in the Champions League. 

“It’s not going to be easy. I don’t want to lie, it’s going to be tough to play in Africa and in the local league at the same time, and trying to adjust to those two dimensions.

“Look at Leicester City right now they are doing well in the Champions League but they are struggling in the domestic competitions where they were champions last year.

“So we also need to take a leaf and learn from all the teams who have been in such circumstances and try to get the best out of it,” said Kwashi.

Makepekepe begun their pre-season training last week.

Kwashi is taking the players through the paces in the absence of head coach Lloyd Chitembwe who has enrolled for a CAF A Licence currently underway at the ZIFA Village.

“Preparations have been going on well. We started training last week, so it’s still early days but so far so good.

“Everyone is willing to work and to fight for the cause of the team to do better than we did last year. We don’t want to brag too much but we have to work hard,” said Kwashi.