Ajax face a daunting fixture schedule in the coming weeks, with four fixtures in 13 days prior to their continental clash, including a fixture against in-form Mpumalanga Black Aces on the Wednesday before the weekend’s scheduled CAF showdown.
Yet the Cape club have still not been notified of the venue that will be used in Angola, adding to the already arduous preparations for the difficult fixture.
“We still haven’t got confirmation of the venue in Angola ourselves,” De Sa told reporters. “The place where we were supposed to play at, the airport is closed. So we are trying to get clarification from CAF through Safa where the game will take place.
“From what I understand, it’s 1200km from Luanda, which is possible to do by bus, so we’ll have to wait from CAF to see where we’ll play, and I think that will play a part as well. So we have to fly out from here to Joburg, from Joburg to a venue, and maybe from there, another flight.
“So it’s going to be testing.”
De Sa is fully aware of what to expect following his experiences in Africa with former club Orlando Pirates, and has already shared some of his previous stories with his young squad, who he feels will be up for the challenge.
“We’ve spoken about it already,” he said. “Me personally, I’m well prepared for that – I’ve done the full mile there before. There’s a lot of experiences I’ve shared with the players, and we’ve had the Under-23 players already playing in Africa, as well as Milton [Ncube] and [Lawrence] Lartey who have travelled through Africa as well, so I think overall we have quite a bit of experience, and we just looking forward to doing it ourselves, as unit.
“We don’t expect champagne and caviar, but expect to rough it up.”