There was a full house at the National Sports Stadium’s B Arena where Zimbabwe’s representatives in the 2017 CAF Champions League Caps United held their first training session after their return from the tour of Zambia.

Makepekepe came back from Lusaka on Monday where they lost 0-2 to Red Arrows before beating Zambian champions Zanaco 2-1 last Sunday.

The Zimbabwean champions are preparing for a Champions League preliminary round first leg match against FC Lioli Lesotho in Maseru during the weekend of 10-12 February in Maseru.

National team right back and reigning Soccer Star of the Year Hardlife Zvirekwi joined his teammates from Warriors’ duty but trained alone on the sidelines.

The injury prone Tafadzwa Rusike seems to have shrugged off a groin injury that kept him out for most of the preseason and looked menacing as usual.

New signings Ronald “Rooney” Chitiyo and Last Sithole were also present and so was Abbas Amidu, one of the scorers in Zambia.

2016 Soccer Star of the Year finalist Ronald Pfumbidzai was also in the thick of things and so were the likes of Joel Ngodzo, Moses Muchenje, Devon Chafa and Simba Nhivi.

There were concerns over Leonard Tsipa’s left knee which was constantly being checked by the team medic.

Former FC Platinum striker Makai “Jecha” Kawashu also trained with Makepekepe although coach Lloyd Chitembwe did not shed more light on his presence.

Chitembwe is happy with the preparations so far.

“What I want is to build a competitive team, one that can hold its own in the Champions League but I wouldn’t want to talk about targets now.

“We welcomed back Hardy (Zvirekwi) but he trained alone because we want to ease him into the system. We do not want to burn him out,” said Chitembwe.