AfricaPress-Tanzania: AFTER landing safely in the country on Friday night, Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane has predicted a tough match against Simba when they play hosts in the CAF Champions League’s group stage on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam.
The match is expected to be tough and exciting considering to the fact that none of the two teams will be ready to lose three points in an advantage to get closer to the quarterfinals.
It will be a nail-biting-match that pits group toppers Al Ahly versus second placed Simba.
The two sides have started their campaign on a winning note, Simba beating AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 away in Kinshasa while the African champions cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win at home against Al Merrikh of Sudan.
In his brief remarks shortly after landing at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), Mosimane said he is aware that it will be a difficult match.
“It is going to be a difficult game. We know Simba beat us last time so maybe we will correct it,” said the South African coach who recently guided his team to the third finish in FIFA Club World Cup.
In 2019, Simba came up against Al Ahly in the same competition with the Red Devils winning the first leg in Cairo 5-0 but Simba returned home to beat them 1-0 courtesy of a Meddie Kagere strike.
For the country’s envoys, they are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to preparations for this great game knowing in advance that they once outclassed Al Ahly 1-0 in the same competition at the same venue.
They have since coined another slogan to silence the Egyptians known as ‘Total War, Point of No Return’ as they aim to dismantle the reigning CAF CL champions.
Before cruising into the group stage, Simba came up with another slogan called ‘War in Dar’ which helped them to ambush FC Platinum 4-0 in the return leg of the champions league qualifiers at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in the city.
“When it comes to champions league, we do not have to compromise, Simba like to play big matches like the one coming up against Al Ahly and with the help of God, we will win the game. “Undoubtedly, Al Ahly are far much better than us but, in order to start getting close to our target of reaching into the champions league semifinals, we must defeat them (Al Ahly),” said the club’s Information Officer Haji Manara at a press briefing in the city recently.
He then called on Simba fans to throng the venue in big number to fill the 30,000 places which is half of the carrying capacity of the stadium as recommended by CAF in a move to contain Covid-19.
