Yanga-TP Mazembe clash hots up as referees named

Dar es Salaam. The Young Africans (Yanga) technical bench has a reason to smile following a report that so far there is no injury ahead of their second tie of the CAF Confederation Cup against TP Mazembe of the DR Congo on Sunday.

Yanga will host TP Mazembe from at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium from 7pm and already the African football governing body (CAF) has announced Mauritanian referees to officiate the encounter.

Yanga’s Information Officer, Ally Kamwe, said all his players are ready for the encounter except those out of the team’s camp due to injuries including Bernard Morrison and Abutwalib Mshery.

Kamwe said the players are in training camp ahead of the must win encounter against one of the African football giants. He said they need to utilize well the home ground in order to revive their hopes of qualifying for the quarterfinal of the competition.

“If you make an analysis on the opening matches of the group stage most of the teams that played at their home grounds won or drew. TP Mazembe won 3-1 over Real Bamako at their home venue and now they are going to host US Monastir. We are going to do the same despite facing a tough assignment,” said Kamwe.

He said the team’s technical bench have the best option of selecting players who will make sure the country celebrate their victory at the home venue.

“We will not let Tanzanians down in the match that President Samia Suluhu Hassan has promised players scoring each goal for victory will take home Sh5 million. We thank the President for the motivation and the players are in high morale ahead of the encounter,” he said. Kamwe called on football fans to attend the encounter in order to boost the morale of the players.

However, the record shows that Yanga are yet to record the best results against TP Mazembe. The two teams met in the same competition in 2016, whereby Yanga lost 1-0 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium and later lost 3-1 in Lubumbusha, the DR Congo.

Meanwhile, the African football governing body (CAF) has named Mauritania’s referees to officiate the Sunday Confederation Cup encounter between Yanga and TP Mazembe.

The CAF has picked Abdel Aziz Mohamed Bouh to be the centre referee of the encounter and will be assisted by Hamedine Diba and Brahim H’Made. The match’s fourth official is Moussa Diou.

The referees have already arrived in the country ready for the encounter which has so far drawn the attention of many football fans in the country.