TANZANIAN envoys Simba and Young Africans said they are in perfect form as both leave today for Zambia and Rwanda respectively ahead of their Champions League’s second preliminary matches tomorrow.
Simba face Power Dynamos at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Zambia while Yanga head to face Al Marrikh of Sudan at Pele Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda.
The two Champions League envoys are eager to go past this phase and step into the group stage of the Championship League and to achieve it they have to clear the Zambian and Sudanese hurdles.
Simba’s Media and Information Manager Ahmed Ally has regularly commented that their main target this season is to reach the semifinal stage of the competition.
“To us, reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League is never a new thing and instead, we want to break our own record by stepping into the last four stage where we deserve to be based on the ability of the quad we have,” he said.
This is the first Champions League match for Simba this season as they were exempted in the first-round preliminary duels as such; people are patiently waiting to see what they are going to bring.
Aside from featuring in the Champions League, Simba will also compete in the invented Africa Football League (AFL) whose inaugural match is pegged at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on October 20th.
In retrospect, Yanga have mapped the group stage as their priority saying anything beyond that will just be a bonus to them and their mission to realise that begins tomorrow.
The last season’s CAF Confederation Cup finalists seem to have learned lessons on what they ought to do this season to win a spot to play in the last 16 after suffering exit at the same stage of the competition last season.
Meanwhile, Yanga coach Miguel Gamondi has expressed his happiness after being voted as the best coach for August, his first individual award to win at the club.
“I am happy to receive this award, For me, it is a result of many people like those who work at Avic Town, people who take care of pitches, cooks, administrators, technical staff and most importantly players because without them, we coaches are nothing.
“We have good players who work hard and it is a good thing to provide perfect results to our fans,” said the Argentine coach.
In August, Gamondi guided Yanga to two wins in the Premier League against KMC and JKT Tanzania claiming massive 5-0 success in both fixtures without conceding a goal.
