Africa-Press – Tanzania. WITH only three days to go, Simba officially began training on Saturday ahead of their CAF Champions League’s return leg match against FC Platinum.
To Simba the campaign to clear Platinum hurdle has been christened ‘War in Dar’ CAF Champions League, as Simba need to win at any cost to advance to the tournament’s group stage.
The two teams will meet for the reverse leg at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday whose winner will earn chance of venturing into the group stages of the lucrative football competition.
It will be one of hottest clashes bearing in mind that the hosts have to stamp a victory at all cost if they want to claim a slot in the last 16. A 1-0 defeat in the first round in Zimbabwe was a setback for the country’s envoys but all is not lost as they have another glorious opportunity to turn things around and make it big.
Simba have a good record when playing at home in Champions League which dates back in 2018 when they cruised into the quarterfinals as they managed to triumph in most of the encounters at their home venue.
Ahead of the important game, Head Coach Sven Vandenbroeck posted on his Instagram page that ‘Count down to Champions League second leg War in Dar. Preparation starts today.’ In his recent remarks, the club’s Information Officer Haji Manara said they know how good it feels to play in the group stages of the competition as such; they will use well the home ground advantage.
“Tanzanians should feel proud of Simba and wish them well to go further into the contest because if we excel to reach far, we will open the gates for other teams in the country to trade in the competition,” he said.
Moreover, Manara disclosed that they have written CAF requesting them to increase the number of people who will descend at the 60,000 capacity Stadium to watch the game. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, CAF recommended that hosting venues should accommodate half of the carrying capacity of the concerned stadium and in this case, only 30,000 people can have access to watch the game live at Mkapa Stadium.
“If they give us a green light, we will overflow the venue so as to give our players on the battlefield a deserved support. I always say that star player at Simba is not Clatous Chama or Aishi Manula, the star of Simba are supporters,” he said.
He added that they expect to receive positive feedback from CAF since Tanzania is free from the Covid-19 crisis while insisting that until then, they will double mobilisation efforts
