Buoyant Yanga SC off to Egypt minus four stars
Yanga players share a light moment at the Julius Nyerere International Airport yesterday. The Jangwani side departed for Egypt for the second leg of the African Champions League last 16 tie against Al Ahly. PHOTO|OMAR FUNGO
What you need to know:
The double-legged tie is poised at 1-1 with Yanga needing a victory to sail through to the group stage of the Africa’s premier club championship.
Dar es Salaam. A 20-player Young Africans squad flew to Egypt yesterday brimming with confidence ahead of the second leg of the African Champions League last 16 tie against Al Ahly.
The double-legged tie is poised at 1-1 with Yanga needing a victory to sail through to the group stage of the Africa’s premier club championship.
Yanga, however, travelled without four injured players for the showdown that is scheduled for Wednesday at the Borg El Arab Stadium. The match will kick off at 9:30pm.
The players, who failed to make it to the Egyptian city of Alexandria, are Haji Mwinyi (defender), Geoffrey Mwashiuya (forward), Matheo Anthony (forward) and Benedict Tinoco (goalkeeper).
The quartet have failed to shrug off their injuries on time for the decider. Mwinyi is still nursing a knee injury while Mwashiuya has an ankle problem.
Matheo, who has not seen enough playtime at Yanga, has been struck down with malaria while Tinoco was dropped for technical reasons. The contingent, which will comprise 10 officials is headed by Idd Mshangama from the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF).
The players who left yesterday are Ali Mustafa, Deogratius Munishi, Juma Abdul, Mbuyu Twite, Salum Telela, Oscar Joshua, Nadir Haroub, Pato Ngonyani, Kelvin Yondani, Vincent Bossou and Thaban Kamusoko. Others are Simon Msuva, Haruna Niyonzima, Donald Ngoma, Amissi Tambwe, Malimi Busungu, Paul Nonga, Deus Kaseke, Issoufou Boubacar and Saidi Makapu. Over 20 Yanga fans also travelled with the team.
Speaking before departure, Yanga head coach Hans Van Pluijm voiced optimism that they will overcome the eight-time African champions on their backyard.
“I am not ready to speak about our strategy, but we have prepared well and hopefully we will dump them out on their home soil,” said the Dutch tactician.
“The morale is high especially after winning our Premier League matches. I hope that the boys will be unfazed by the away atmosphere and play according to instructions from the technical bench.”
Yanga, who have never eliminated any team from North Africa, will drop to the Confederation Cup playoffs should they fail to see off the Egyptian heavyweights.
