TANZANIA : AFTER Young Africans cleared their first hurdle of the CAF Champions League, the club’s Head Coach Miguel Gamondi insists he is focused on eliminating Al Merrikh, their last hurdle to the competition’s group stage.
Gamondi made the reaction shortly after sealing an aggregate 7-1 win over Djibouti’s AS Ali Sabie (ASAS) at Azam Complex in the city on Saturday.
In the first leg, the Yanga won 2-0 before sealing a hefty 5-1 win in their return leg.Both encounters were staged at Azam Complex.
In their first encounter, Yanga netted their goals through Stephane Aziz Ki and Kennedy Msonda while in the reverse leg, Max Nzengeli scored a brace.
Others who scored in the return leg included Hafiz Konkoni, Pacome Zouzoua and Clement Mzize.
Following the victory Gamondi hailed his side for the victory, “I am pleased that we have qualified to the next stage of the competition. I congratulate my players for the hard work from training and to the victory,” he said.
After commenting on the weekend encounter, he issued his attributions for their forthcoming match with Al Merrikh.
“I am glad we will start away and we will have some weeks to prepare well,” he said.
As per the fixture, the first leg will be played at the away venue on September 15th before the home leg on September 29th.
On his part, ASAS coach Mawlid Beilleh hailed his players for putting on a good fight though the output was not what they expected on the day.
“This is football. I congratulate Young Africans on their performance. For us, we will go back to see what went wrong and improve ourselves,” he said.
Al Merrikh SC progressed by an away goal rule after a 1-1 aggregate score against AS Otoho D’Oyo of Congo Brazzaville.
Al Merrikh Coach Osama Nabih Mahmoud Mohamed Elghamrawy was full of praise for his charges after they progressed to round one where they will take on Young Africans.
“We played a tactical game. I thank the players, fellow coaches, management and fans who were part of us,” Osama noted after the game.
