Stars were on Tuesday paired with AS Tanda – an emerging force in Ivory Coast’s domestic football who have been champions of Ligue 1 in two of the last years that they have spent in topflight football.
Originally from Tanda – a town in eastern Ivory Coast in the Gontougo Region they have had to play their CAF home games at the Stade Robert Champroux in Abidjan which meets the continental body’s standards.
This season Tanda are currently in seventh position halfway through Ligue One and are in the Confederation Cup Play-Offs after being booted out of the Champions League by Etoile du Sahel on a 5-1 aggregate score.
They had gotten past AS FAN from Niger in the earlier round while last year they came and went in the preliminary round of the Champions League after falling victim to Club Africain of Tunisia.
Dikwena travel to West Africa for the first leg over the weekend of April 7-9 and then will stage the return tie in the North West the following weekend.
“I have never heard about them,” Ng’ambi tells snl24.com/kickoff.
“While I don’t know them the fact that they are from Ivory Coast gives me an idea of what to expect because I have played against teams from there at both club and national team level before.
“It is a well-known fact that these academies always produce good players, most of which go on to play in Europe. So there is no doubt that this is going to be a tough round for us, more so considering that it is at the crucial stage just before the group stages. Since we are starting away first it means we have to plan well and make sure we score there.”
The Malawian played against Ivorian club Africa Sports National while he was still with homeland club Bakili Bullets in a 2004 CAF Champions League Group A match in which he scored in a 1-1 draw.
Then eight years ago he was in Abidjan yet again with The Flames but left in disappointment after a 5-0 2010 AFCON/World Cup qualifier mauling by The Elephants on a sad afternoon in which 19 people were killed in a stampede before the match.
Dikwena have previously been at this stage (Play-Offs) in 2008 but came unstuck after losing 2-4 on aggregate to eventual winners SC Sfaxien of Tunisia.