Mainland Premiership League top spot now a two horse race
What you need to know:
- Yanga are at the top with 56 points collected from 21 matches while Simba are placed second with 50 points
Dar es Salaam. The Mainland Tanzania NBC Premier League has stopped for one week to allow teams to compete in the Azam Federation Cup.
Sixteen teams feature in the NBC Premier League, whose standings, however, show that only two teams, Simba and Young Africans (Yanga), seem to be serious contenders for the title.
Yanga are at the top with 56 points collected from 21 matches while Simba are placed second with 50 points, six behind the league leaders. The point gap between the two teams is of two matches.
If Simba close the point gap, they will replace Yanga at the top because of their good average of goals scored. Simba have so far scored 51 goals and conceded 12 while Yanga have scored 39 goals and conceded 10.
Arithmetically, Yanga need at least 21 points (victories in seven matches) in order to retain the title.
The league fixture shows that Yanga will face Namungo FC at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium during the resumption of the league on February 4 while Simba will be in action one day before facing a tough assignment against Singida Big Stars at the same venue. After the matches, the two teams will turn focus to African continental competitions, whereby Yanga will travel to Tunis in Tunisia to face Monastir in the CAF Confederation Cup on February 12 before hosting TP Mazembe of DR Congo at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on February 19.
After the two matches, Yanga will face Kinondoni Municipal Council (KMC) in the NBC League game and later on February 26 will play away against Real Bamako of Mali in the CAF Confederation Cup match and their return leg will be held at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on March 8.
Simba’s fixture in the group stage of the African Champions League shows that on February 10 they will play away against Horoya of Guinea before hosting Raja Casablanca of Morocco on February 17 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium. After their tough assignments in the African Champions League, Simba will return to the Mainland League, hosting Azam FC at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
The match is regarded as a revenge for Simba after losing 1-0 on October 27 last year. The Reds will be back in international assignments on February 24 playing away against Vipers of Uganda and their return leg will be held at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on March 7.
