Yanga in CAF match revenge mission against Egypt’s Al Ahly
Young Africans (Yanga) players train at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- What may make today’s encounter to be exciting and thrilling is classic football that has been shown recently by both teams.
- Records show that Yanga and Al Ahly have managed to record victories in the past five matches, having scored a total of 14 goals each.
Dar es Salaam. Young Africans (Yanga) are on the verge of making history today when they face Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League return leg at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt.
The match has been scheduled to kick off at 7pm East African time and the Jangwani Street side will likely be targeting victory to go top in the Group D standings.
What may make today’s encounter to be exciting and thrilling is classic football that has been shown recently by both teams. Yanga players were at their best in their return leg against CR Belouizdad at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium and won 4-0.
Records show that Yanga and Al Ahly have managed to record victories in the past five matches, having scored a total of 14 goals each.
Another thing that may make the match thrilling is the statuses of both teams in the group stage as the two teams have already made it to the quarter-finals, targeting the top spot.
Basically, there is an advantage for a team that finish at the top in the group stage, which is to start away and finish at home. Yanga also will likely be targeting to retaliate against Al Ahly on foreign soil as the records also show that the Jangwani Street giants are yet to record victory in Egypt.
Since 2009, according to the records, the teams met seven times and Yanga managed to win once, register draws and four losses.
The match will be under referee Djindo Houngnandande from Benin. Yanga are currently second with eight points and victory, apart from making them finish at the top, will be their history by winning away against Al Ahly.
The two teams drew 1-1 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on December 2, 2023. Yanga head coach Miguel Gamondi said his players are well prepared to deal with Al Ahly’s pressure, exuding confidence that they are going to shine in the encounter.
“We are going to play our normal game while taking precautions against Al Ahly players. We will have to be very keen on both defending and attacking. We will not sit back and defend, we are going to take the game to them because we think that’s the best strategy to keep Al Ahly at bay,” said Gamondi.
