Yanga ready for Bamako conquest
YOUNG Africans have intensified drills ahead of their third CAF Confederation Cup fixture versus De Bamako at Stade du 26 Mars in Mali tomorrow.
It is a second away match for the country’s representatives in the competition who are looking forward to producing a good performance and enabling them return home with maximum points.
The game has been forecasted as a tough fixture for both teams basing on the fact that the hosts were held to a 1-1 draw by US Monastir in their previous game hence a chance for them to wake up.
Prior to that, they (Bamako) suffered a 3-1 loss to TP Mazembe in their inaugural group D match played in DR Congo meaning that they are yet to digest a win in the unfolding last 16 duels.
As such, the Malians are aware that any miss of maximum points in tomorrow’s match puts them in a tight corner in the quest to step into the quarterfinals which each competing team is targeting to reach.
“We arrived here well and the squad is in good shape preparing for our important match on Sunday (tomorrow) which without a doubt it is going to be difficult,” said Yanga’s Media and Communication Manager Ally Kamwe.
He added that after the long trip, players have been engaging in recovery sessions to keep their bodies in combat mood and he insisted that morale among them is high than ever before.
“All precautions of playing an away match in the group stage of the Confederation Cup are being considered and our desire is nothing less than a victory or at least a draw,” he said.
From two matches played, Nasreddine Nabi’s men have won one match (3-1) against TP Mazembe at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam last Sunday hence they have tasted the sweet and sour part of the contest.
The other side came following their 2-0 loss to US Monastir of Tunisia who are the current group D leaders with 4 points in the bag and they take on TP Mazembe in DR Congo tomorrow.
According to the progression of matches, it is clear that so far, all four teams in the group have equal opportunities to qualify for the knock-out phase with tomorrow’s assignments set to begin dividing them.
