Yanga set bar for CAF CL

DAR ES SALAAM: YOUNG Africans president Hersi Said revealed that their target is to go beyond the group stage in the CAF Champions League (CAF CL) this season.

Yanga kicks off their Champions League campaign by facing Vital’O of Burundi at Azam Complex in Dar es Salaam on Saturday in the first leg match.

Thereafter, the two sides will meet again at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium for the second leg match slated on August 24th, whereby the overall winner will step into the first round.

Speaking recently in Dar es Salaam, Hersi pointed out that in this season, they intend to do much better in the Champions League to surpass where they reached last season.

“As you remember, in our last season’s Champions League contest set up the group stage was our target, but we managed to go as far as the quarter-finals.

“This season, we want to do much better to break our record that is why we have made several improvements in our squad by adding quality players capable of making us reach far and achieve our mission,” he said.

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On his part, Yanga’s Media and Communication Manager Ally Kamwe said all precautions will be taken against Vital’O, while insisting that there is no small team in the Champions League.

“We are going to respect our opponents knowing that we are at an away venue where we deserve to play while aiming to win the match.

“The mentality of players and technical bench staff will be that we are playing at away turf and we want to use the first leg encounter as a qualification mark to the second preliminary round,” he said.

For Vital’O, their Information Officer Arsene Bucuti said they are progressing well with training sessions as one way to stun Yanga to progress into the next round of the competition.

“Most people are giving us no chance to win this match but what I know is that we are better placed to kick out Yanga from the Championship League this season and you will believe this on Saturday,” he said.

He added that they have fully analysed their opponents from all the matches they have recently played and are aware of the areas they need to reinforce to get the better of the Jangwani street-based side.

Vital’O have been in the country for a long time and they recently played a friendly match against Pamba at CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza which elapsed 1-1.