Yanga face tough rematch against Club Africain
Young Africans attacking midfielder Stephane Aziz Ki (right) dribbles past Club Africain’s player during the CAF Confederation Cup playoff match held yesterday at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- The competition’s fixture shows that the two teams will meet again on November 11 at the Stade Olympique de Radès at 7pm Tanzanian time
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s envoys in the CAF Confederation Cup, Young Africans (Yanga), face a tough return leg in order to qualify for the group stage of the competition after recording a barren draw yesterday against Club Africain of Tunisia at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
The result means Yanga 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. The return leg is scheduled for November 11 at the Stade Olympique de Radès in Tunis, Tunisia, kicking-off at 7pm Tanzanian time.
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.
In yesterday’s encounter, Yanga dominated the first half, pressing towards Club Africain’s defence in search of early goals, but the Tunisian side stood firm to clear all the dangerous balls. The Tunisian side opted to play a defensive game match while applying counter-attacks to search for goals. Yanga, for their part, used the flanks in order to penetrate the defence of Club Africain and made various attacks which, however, did not bear fruit.
Yanga created three clear scoring chances, but their strikers Fiston Mayele, Feisal Salum and Stephane Azizi Ki wasted them. In the second half, Yanga continued to press but missed the clear scoring chances they had created.
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.
As per the record, Yanga are seeking to qualify for the group stage for the third time in history. They made it in 2016 for the top eight (quarterfinal) and two years later, the giants reached the group stage.
The record also shows that in 2007, the team were eliminated in the preliminary round and the following year were eliminated in the first round. In 2011, the Jangwani Street side exited in the preliminary round.
