Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIAN envoys in the CAF Champions League have an uphill task in their return leg match against Rivers United in Nigeria after a 1-0 home loss in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
It was bad start for Tanzanian teams in the Champions League as KMKM also suffered a painful 2-0 loss at Amaan Stadium earlier yesterday.
Both Yanga and KMKM have tall orders as they must win by a big margin to grab a ticket for the tournament’s first round games.
Yanga played well despite losing to the well-drilled Nigerian side by a lone goal. They squandered many golden chances in the both halves, but all credits should go to Rivers solid defence and brilliant goalkeeping.
Yanga who had a strong start managed to hold their visitors to 0-0 until the end of the first half before allowing the visitors to score the winner early in the second half.
Yanga must win by not less than two goals nil to advance to the first round or else it will be the end of the race for them.
Moses Omoduomeke was the man who brought pain to Yanga after heading home the winner in the 51st h minute.
The scorer headed home a volley that passed custodian Digui Diarra, who was poor position.
The goal was like an wake- up call for Yanga as they piled pressure at Rivers goal, but most of their attacks were either blocked by highly disciplined Rivers defender or saved by goalie Sochima Elium, whose brilliance between the posts was a big hurdle to the Yanga players.
Yanga were very impressive in the early stages of the game and they were the first to attack in the early minutes, when Yacouba Sogne got a clear chance, but his powerful shot went a few inches off target.
In the 7th minute, another chance was squandered by Feisal Salum, but his powerful shot was blocked by Rivers defenders for an abortive corner.
Rivers responded with a counter attack in the 26th minute, but they shot far off target. No goal was scored until the end of the first 45 minutes.
In the second half made some changes upfront by Yanga introducing Ditram Nchimbi for Yacouba Sogne and Yusuf Athuman for Haritier Makambo who picked injury.
Their arrival intensified the team’s attack, but no goal was added until the end of the thrilling 90 minutes.
At Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar, KMKM suffered a 2-0 loss to Al Ittihad in another CAF Champions League match staged yesterday.
AL Ittihad scored their opener in the 45th minute through Muad Eisay to let the visitors lead 1-0 until the end of the first half.
The visitors doubled their lead with the second goal in the 85th and it was Rubia Alshadi.
The Zanzibar envoys must beat the Libyans at home at least 3-0 to book their place in the event’s First round.
