Yanga to face Enyimba next month
Yanga players during a training session in Dar es Salaam. Yanga will take on Nigerian champions Enyimba in a friendly match at the National Stadium next month. PHOTO|FILE
What you need to know:
Young Africans Secretary General Jonas Tiboroha said yesterday that Enyimba would camp in Tanzania ahead of their Champions League match against Uganda’s Vipers Sports Club on the weekend of February 12-14 in Kampala.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s representatives in the CAF Champions League, Young Africans Sports Club, will play a build-up match against Nigerian champions Enyimba at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam, early next month.
Young Africans Secretary General Jonas Tiboroha said yesterday that Enyimba would camp in Tanzania ahead of their Champions League match against Uganda’s Vipers Sports Club on the weekend of February 12-14 in Kampala.
Young Africans will start their Champions League campaign by playing Cercle de Joachim of Mauritius and the winners with play either APR of Rwanda or Mbabane Swallows of Swaziland.
Tiboroha said Enyimba official had requested for a build-up match against Young Africans on February 5 and the Mainland champions had accepted the request.
“We are preparing for the match, which is very important to us. As you know, the league schedule is very tight and we won’t have time to camp outside the country. The match against Enyimba is therefore a golden opportunity for us as far as our preparations are concerned,” said Tiboroha.
He said they would inform TFF about the international friendly match and ask the federation to reschedule their league game against JKT Ruvu slate for February 6.
“We need ample time to prepare for the CAF Champions League. Our league schedule is very tight. We have been scheduled to play Tanzania Prisons on February 3 in Mbeya before playing JKT Ruvu. We thus will have no time to camp outside the country and will need to play tough build-up matches in the country to test our squad in readiness for Champions League assignments,” Tiboroha said.
Tanzania’s other representatives in African club competition are Azam FC, who will take on either Bidvest Wits of South Africa or a Seychelles club in the first round of the Confederation Cup.
Azam FC kick off their campaign in the competition with an away assignment on March 11, 12 or 13. The return leg match is set for March 18, 19 or 20.
The winning side will face either Esperance of Tunisia or New Stars de Douala of Cameroon in the second round.
Azam said last weekend that they intend to play their home matches at their stadium in Chamazi on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
