DAR ES SALAAM : THE brilliance of Simba’s youthful custodian, Ally Salim helped his team to reclaim the Community Shield in the grand finale at Mkwakwani Stadium in Tanga late on Sunday.
The agile custodian saved three shots to enable his team claim a 3-1 victory and the Community Shield after missing it in the past two seasons.
It is the first title for Simba under Coach Roberto Oliveira and after the Community Shield he is tasked to regain the Premier League, which Simba also lost in the past two seasons.
In press briefing, Salim lauded the whole team and the technical bench for making him a star on the day.
Simba managed to score their penalties through Mzamiru Yassin, Willy Onana and Jean Baleke while Saido Ntibazonkiza and Moses Phiri missed theirs.
For Yanga, only Stephanie Aziz Ki scored whereas Khalid Aucho, Pacome Zouzoua and Kouassi Yao could not find the target.
The first half witnessed both sides playing compact football with much action seen at the midfield section where the duo easily dominated.
It was a well-balanced encounter with the first shot on target coming Simba’s way in the 27th minute courtesy of Clatous Chama whose long range strike was well saved by Yanga goalie Djigui Diarra.
As the game meandered to the end of the electric first half, Yanga’s locomotive winger Jesus Moloko headed in before it was ruled out for an offside.
Simba missed the services of centre-back Henock Inonga who is still nursing injury he picked during their semi-final clash versus Singida Fountain Gate and he was replaced by Kennedy Juma.
In an early match, Azam outclassed Singida Fountain Gate 2-0 to claim the second place of the tournament in what was a good response to them after suffering a 2-0 defeat in their opening match against Yanga.
Striker Prince Dube scored the fastest goal of the competition as he found the back of the net in the 1st minute of the match before Abdul Selemani sealed the deal with the second one in the 42nd minute.
The second half saw the Singida based side coming refreshed in an effort to make a comeback but most of their scoring opportunities were misused.
“Of course, I am happy with the outcome and we had a good game of which I believe that our fans have enjoyed,” said Azam’s coach Youssouph Dabo after the match.
On his part, Hans Van Pluijm remarked that they had several scoring chances throughout the match but could not turn them into goals.
Both Azam and Singida Fountain Gate are pegged to represent the country in the CAF Confederation Cup and used the community shield as part and parcel of strengthening their squads ahead of the international engagements set to begin soon.
