Africa-Press – Tanzania. Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt has said that their CAF Champions League’s quarterfinals opponents, Simba will give a stern test for Amakhosi ahead of their double meetings.
The two sides will meet in home and away double legged matches, after a Friday’s draw held at CAF headquarters in Cairo Egypt.
South African Kaizer Chiefs will be at home for the first leg of the Quarter-fina, which is scheduled to take place on the 14th or 15th May.
They will then travel to Dar es Salaam to play the second leg of their Quarterfinal clash on the 21st or 22nd May.
Speaking through the club website, Hunt said that Simba are a better side to challenge their journey to the semifinals.
“Any team you draw now is a tough draw,” “ Simba had a good group stage, they beat Al Ahly,” “They are certainly a side we can’t take lightly”, he said adding that: “ It will be a very tough game either way and we will just concentrate on our next game and we will take it from there,”.
Simba, under Frenchman Didier Gomes, had a wonderful Group Stage performance, beating the reigning African Champions, Al-Ahly of Egypt 1-0 at home before succumbing by the same margin in the return leg tie in Cairo.
Amakhosi have never faced Tanzanian opponents in the CAF Champions League although they did face Zimamoto FC of Zanzibar in the 2018-19 CAF Confederations Cup Preliminary round.
They won the tie 5-2 on aggregate. This is the first time Chiefs had qualified for the group stages of the CAF Champions League, they managed to progress as Group C runners up behind Moroccan outfit Wydad Casablanca.
Simba are in the Quarterfinals of the Champions League for a third time. They participated in the 1994 and 2018- 19 season where they lost to Nkana Red Devils and TP Mazembe respectively.
Simba are 21-time Tanzanian top-flight champions and this will be just their second meeting against South African opposition in the CAF Champions League – their only previous clash was against Santos in 2003, a game they won 9-8 on penalties in the First Round after both legs ended goalless.
The Mainland reigning champions came through at top of Group A where they finished ahead of Egyptian giants and defending champions Al Ahly, DR Congo side AS Vita and Sudanese team Al Merrikh.
The would-be winner of this tie will play the wouldbe winners of Quarter-final which comprises of Algerian club MC Alger or Waydad AC of Morocco.
