Africa-Press – Tanzania. SIMBA have vowed to revenge the painful defeat they suffered at the expense of Ruvu Shooting in the first round of the ongoing Mainland Premier League campaign.
The two teams are expected to settle their differences after the end of 90 minutes at the CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza tomorrow, as the clock ticks towards the end of the season. In the first round encounter on October 26th 2020 at the Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam Simba lost 1-0.
It was Ruvu Shooting’s Full Maganga who netted the solitary goal to punish the defending champions. It is from this backdrop that makes tomorrow’s match thought-provoking and football fans are eager to see how the Reds will react this time around.
Simba have already arrived in Mwanza ahead of the battle, knowing that maximum points will be crucial for them to close in on the league title.
Sitting top of the league table on 64 points from 26 matches, Simba need to win the next four league matches to retain the league title.
They are three points ahead of second placed Young Africans, who have played 29 matches and have five matches to go. Speaking recently in Dar es Salaam, Simba’s Information Officer Haji Manara insisted that his side has every reason to do well in the game even though they respect their opponents.
“It’s not that we are unbeatable. We lost against Ruvu Shooting and Tanzania Prisons. Everybody knows that it was just a fluke for them to win over us. We have the best team in the country so far.
“We respect them (Ruvu Shooting), they have good players and coach but this time around, we are going to defeat them. Our intention is to be declared champions early before we complete our remaining matches,” Manara said.
He continued that Simba are much better than any other team in the top flight this is the reason he believes that Ruvu Shooting will be outclassed no matter what. Ahead of tomorrow’s match, Simba will again miss the services of their locomotive midfielder Clatous Chama, who is in Zambia following the passing away of his wife recently.
The reigning champions had to come from behind in their previous match to demolish Namungo 3-1 at the Majaliwa Stadium in Ruangwa, Lindi, which came timely as they needed to win to increase the point gap at the top of the pile.
However, Ruvu Shooting under the tutelage of Charles Mkwasa are not 100 per cent safe on the league standings, as they sit on tenth slot with 37 points from 29 outings.
This means they too, demand victories in most of their remaining games to cement their chances of staying put in the top flight league next season.
Mkwasa, the former Taifa Stars and Yanga coach has been on the frontline making sure that he drive his current team to prosperity and bring the intended competition in the contest.
According to the fixture, the current season is slated to end on July 18th where all 18 teams will be in action in nine different venues winding up the season.
Meanwhile, Simba midfielder Clatous Chama has withdrawn from Zambia squad ahead three-match international friendly tour after losing his wife.
Chama’s wife passed away on May 29 in Kitwe. Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) Spokesperson Sydney Mungala said the entire Zambian football family is gutted by the news.
“It is a very sad development especially at a time when we were banking on him to be a leader on this assignment in the absence of some Euro-based players. He was earmarked to be the star of the flock. He has naturally been excused from the friendlies,” Mungala was quoted by AF.
The Tanzanian-based midfielder was one of fourteen foreign-based call-ups Chipolopolo coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic had summoned for the away friendlies against Senegal, Benin and Sudan.
