Confident Yanga leave today for Tunisia minus one player

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s envoys in the CAF Confederation Cup, Young Africans (Yanga) leave today for Tunis, Tunisia, ahead of their return leg against

The rematch will take place on November 9 at the Stade Olympique de Radès in Rades.

The team’s contingent comprises 43 people out of whom, 27 are players recruited by the club ahead of the competition.

Only one player, Crispin Ngushi, will not be part of the team that is travelling today. Ngushi is yet to regain match fitness as he is still nursing his injury.

Yanga competition director Saad Kawemba said the team will leave by an Emirates plane, explaining that they have decided to depart early in order to acclimatize.

“We are going to play in cold weather conditions to which we need to get used. Some of us are already in Tunis for our team’s accommodation and other necessities ahead of the match,” said Kawemba.

He said they are still in the competition despite recording a barren draw in the first leg held last Wednesday at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium. The return leg has been scheduled to kick-off at 8pm Tanzanian time. However, Yanga are facing a tough test in order to qualify for the group stage of the competition. The Jangwani Street side need victory or a 1-1 draw in order to enter the group stage. A barren draw will make the two teams go into a penalty shootout. However, the record shows that Club Africain normally record good results at their home venue as they recently won 7-0 over Kipanga of Zanzibar in their second leg of the CAF Confederation Cup after the two teams had ended in a barren draw in their first leg held at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar.

The team’s assistant head coach Cedric Kaze commended his players for their fighting spirit they had shown in the match and promised to work on the mistakes they had made with the hope of doing well in their return leg. Yanga are seeking to qualify for the group stage for the third time in history. They made it in 2016 for the top eight (quarterfinals) and two years later, the giants reached the group stage.

The record also shows that in 2007, the team were eliminated in the preliminaries and the following year they were eliminated in the first round. In 2011, the Jangwani Street side exited in the preliminaries.