Yanga seek CAF first round slot

YOUNG Africans SC will be the overwhelming favourites to progress into the first round of the CAF Champions League, when they host Mauritius side Cercle de Joachim SC today at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

The confident Mainland’s representatives in the continental top tier club championships are now left with the realistic task of finishing the job at home by eliminating the Mauritian side from league after securing an away victory in their first leg match.

Yanga won the first leg match by 1-0 a fortnight ago when the two sides met at the New George V Stadium in Curepipe, Mauritius with the winning goal scored by their Zimbabwean striker, Donald Ngoma.

To put icing on a cake, Yanga registered 2-0 win in the Mainland Premier League match over their archrivals Simba at the national Stadium last weekend and 2-1 victory over JKT Mlale in the FA Cup encounter at the same venue on Wednesday, which saw them cruising into the quarter finals of the tournament.

In today’s game, Yanga will be without Ngoma because the Zimbabwean ace striker has flown back to his native country to attend his young brother’s funeral.

However Yanga is expecting to see the return of their captain Nadir Haroub, who was sidelined for quite some time due to injury.

The no nonsense defender’s return will be a major boost in the defence line, while in the midfielder Zimbabwean Thaban Kamusoko, will be in control of the midfield alongside Haruna Niyonzima and Salum Telela.

The Dutchman Hans Van der Pljuim side, whose targets is to reach the last eight of the continent biggest club event needs only a draw of any kind to progress into the first round of this year’s Champions League.

However, the team stands a bigger chance of winning the match by big margin due to the fact that their opponents proved to have no good record in the event and are cited as minnows.

Yanga’s striking line up is expected to be lead by their Burundian striker, Amissi Tambwe, who will partner with the likes of Simon Msuva and Malimi Busungu to ensure their side qualify into the first round, where they will face winner between Mbabane Swallows (Swaziland) and APR FC (Rwanda).

Yanga’s opponents who jetted in from Mauritius on Thursday are said to be certain of surprising their host by having a sweet revenge so as to grab the ticket to the first round. While Yanga will be at home clashing against the Mauritius side, their counterpart Zanzibar’s Mafunzo FC will be in Kinshasa to face AS Vita at Stade Tata Raphaël tomorrow.

Mafunzo face an uphill task to make it into the next round after losing 3-0 in the first leg match in Zanzibar, some two weeks ago. Mafunzo need a 4-0 victory against their host in Kinshasa to guarantee themselves qualification to the first round a task which is seen as too difficult or a daydream.

In Confederation Cup Zanzibar’s JKU has cruised into the first round with a battle following the withdrawal of Botswana’s Gaborone United SC, while their counterparts Azam FC has also cruised into the stage without battling and are scheduled to face South African side Bidvest Wits in the first leg match on March 12th in Johannesburg.

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