Sports

Simba wary of Setif threat

SIMBA SC coach, Milovan Cirkovic

SIMBA head coach, Milovan Cirkovic, has hailed their opponents in the CAF Confederation Cup first round tie Entente Setif as strong team based on the Algerian outfit’s performances in continental competitions.

Simba will host ES Setif for the first leg match of the first round at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam next Sunday, with the return leg duel taking place in Algiers two weeks later.

Milovan said he discovered Entente Setif potential threat through the club’s website, which showed victories the latter garnered in various continental competitions’ games and said his biggest task in the remaining few days will be to train his players intensively, apart from imparting useful tactics with a view to winning convincingly against the Algerians in the first leg.

Simba edged Mtibwa Sugar 2-1 in the latest Mainland Premier League match played at the Jamhuri Stadium in Morogoro on Sunday to continue clinging to the top spot in the standing. “The present Mainland Premier League matches are part of build up games for players, which also help in identifying weaknesses that should be dealt with before the Entente Setif game,” said Cirkovic.

He said Setif is one of great clubs in the continent and has a glorious history in both continental club competitions and domestic league. “I have read this team’s history and its potential through the club’s website…I have discovered that it is a good team and has won so many continental competitions’ matches, thus, it is my duty to prepare my players well,” insisted Cirkovic.

The Serbian tactician said he will impart quality tactics to his players with the aim of securing victory in the forthcoming match, which is extremely important to the Msimbazi Street side. On Simba’s performance during the previous match against Mtibwa Sugar, Cirkovic said despite playing well, his team wasted plenty of scoring chances because of the striking force’s carelessness.

Mtibwa Sugar head coach, Tom Olaba, accepted the defeat but pointed out that there were several minor refereeing mistakes including the failure by the referee to take action when Simba players deliberately fouled their Mtibwa counterparts.

Olaba said his side, nevertheless, was still good despite losing the game considering that it put impressive displays in the second half and managed to grab the equalizer, only to see Mtibwa defenders fail to thwart Simba attacks during the closing stages, which eventually helped Simba register the winner.

The Kenyan tactician said his present task was to drill his players properly so that they could win all remaining matches and stay in a relatively better position in the standing. Simba secured their ticket to the first round of the CAF Confederation Cup after dispatching Rwanda’s SC Kiyovu Sport in the preliminary round, in which the two sides drew 1-1 in the first leg match played at the Nyamirambo Stadium in Kigali.

The return leg duel, played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam after two weeks, saw Simba labour to beat the Rwandese side 2-1 to eventually progress to the first round with a 3-2 aggregate win.