Simba bank on crack shots vs Wydad

SIMBA cherish a remarkable marksmanship record as they host Wydad Casablanca in the double-header CAF Champions League quarters in the city this weekend.

The two teams meet in the first leg encounter at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday before the return  leg duel in Casablanca, Morocco next week.

Banking on prolific scorers; Jean Baleke, Claous Chama and Moses Phiri, the country’s envoys netted 10 goals in six Group Stage games against 7 goals converted by Wydad Casablanca in six fixtures of the last-16.

This gives the Msimbazi  Street Reds an upper hand to do well over the Moroccan giants who  have just conceded one goal in the group stages as opposed to seven conceded by  Simba.

Here, it means the clash is between a good attacking team against a brilliant defensive counterpart  with the two sides gearing up to showcase massive showdown to football fans.

Likewise, Simba are on record to register a big victory in a single the Champions League’s group stage match when they pulverized Horoya 7-0 at the 60,000 capacity arena in the city.

As such; it remains a puzzle if they will be able to stop the Champions League holders from claiming maximum points in their first match of the quarterfinals.

In the Moroccan Premier League, Wydad Casablanca are leading with 49 points from 23 games and are up against the current the second-placed Tanzanian Premier League occupants; Simba with 63 points from 26 games.

“We are aware that Wydad Casablanca have surpassed us in everything, but our focus is to utilise well the home ground advantage  so as to have a downhill task in Casablanca,” remarked Simba’s Media and Communication Manager Ahmed Ally.

He added that doing well on Saturday will give morale to players ahead of the reverse leg encounter as such; Simba  fans should come in big number to give their team a deserved back- up this Saturday.

“This is the big match in the quarterfinals because we are facing the defending champions, meaning that people all over the world will be interested to find out the outcome of the encounter.

“As such; it is an opportunity to make full use of this advantage  so that we can let the world know that Simba is serious in terms of achieving its semifinal target, ” he said.

Moreover, he reiterated that a 2-0 win over their traditional rivals Young Africans is a big boost ahead of Saturday’s electric encounter.