Pressure mounts ahead of traditional rivals encounter

Dar es Salaam. The derby fever is already gripping the nation as Young Africans (Yanga) and Simba renew their age-old rivalry tomorrow in the ongoing Mainland Tanzania NBC Premier League.

The match is regarded as decisive for the two teams ahead of being crowned this year’s title. Yanga are at the top with 68 points and victory will continue to widen the gap against Simba who are placed second with 60 points.

 The teams have each played 25 matches in the league. Arithmetically, Yanga need at least 10 points to retain the league title for the second time in a row while Simba will have to ‘pray’ for the Jangwani Street giants to lose at least three matches in order to lead the league table. The situation makes the Sunday match very crucial for both teams towards winning the title.

Unlike in the past when the heavyweights were in camp outside Dar es Salaam Region, this time around they have set up camp in the city, where their coaches have already set their targets.

Simba head coach Roberto Oliviera alias Robertinho said his players are aware of the importance of the encounter and target register victory.

 He said so far there are no injuries in the team and all the players are doing fine in training.

“It is a crucial match towards our target of winning the title. We need to reduce the point gap and the only thing to achieve that is to record victories in all of our remaining games. However, it is not going to be easy as the players will have to be very keen throughout the game,” said Brazilian Robertinho.

In tomorrow’s clash, Simba will likely depend on their leading players including Clatous Chama, Jean Baleke, Moses Phiri, Mzamiru Yassin, Sadio Kanoute, Henock Inonga, Joash Onyango, Mohammed Husseni alias Tshabalala, Shomari Kapombe and goalkeeper Aishi Manula.

Yanga head coach Nesreddine Nabi also said they are ready for the encounter and target victory in order to continue dominating the top position. The teams’ last match result was 1-1, whereby Simba were the first to score through Augustine Okrah before Yanga equalized through Stephane Aziz Ki. However in the Community Shield encounter, Yanga won 2-1 over Simba. Nabi said they are out to maintain the team’s victory over Simba. Records show that the last time Simba beat Yanga in the Mainland Tanzania Premier League was in 2019.

Yanga will likely bank on their dependable players namely goalkeeper Djigui Diarra, Djuma Shaaban, Lomalisa Mutambala, Bakari Mwamnyeto, Ibrahim Abdallah Baka, Yannick Bangala, Khalid Aucho, Salum Abubakari, Benard Morrison, Jesus Moloko, Fiston Mayele, Kennedy Musonda, Clement Mzize and others.