Africa-Press – Tanzania. DAR ES SALAAM is set to be momentarily on standstill to pave a way for the heavyweight derby pitting Simba against their traditional rivals Young Africans at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium today.
The country’s giants meet in a crucial championship decider whereby a win by Simba will enable them to successfully defend their Premier League title for the fourth season in a row. On the other hand, any negative results will delay the Msimbazi Street Reds from being confirmed new champions and will have to wait for their next match against KMC to be declared title winners if they emerge victors on the day.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference in the city, Simba Assistant Coach Selemani Matola said his side has had ample preparations and they are ready for the show.
“As we already stated at the beginning of the season that we want to defend all the titles we won last season hence tomorrow (today), we will make the first step to achieve that. “Usually, derby are difficult and unpredictable that is why we have done our homework well to ensure that after the game, we get good results,” said Matola.
He also disclosed that they expect to make some tactical changes in today’s duel as they normally do in accordance with the opponents they are facing.
“Pressure is always there when preparing for a big match but we are used to that and our target is to play well to get all three points,” he said while revealing that they will miss two players Jonas Mkude and Ibrahim Ajib who is suffering from Malaria.
On his part, Yanga goalkeeper trainer Razack Siwa narrated that they are also well prepared for the match and that they will try to make good use of every scoring opportunity which will come begging for them.
“Yanga has transformed now… it is just unfortunate that people are looking to one side only. Every department in the team has been working hard to produce tangible outcome,” said him.
It has been a long wait for this derby match which initially was planned to be played on May 8th but concerned authorities rescheduled it to this day as such, people are eagerly waiting to witness a big game.
For Simba, it will be their 30th match of the season meaning that they will have four more duels to play before winding up their assignments for the unfolding campaign.
Until now, the Msimbazi Street giants remain afloat at the top of the 18-team table with 73 points from 29 outings and are already few miles away from embracing the prestigious silverware.
As such, Simba will be compelled to play three back to back fixtures to level with other teams before the 33rd and 34th round of the league.
On the other hand, their opponents Yanga stay glued to the second slot with 67 points after 31 matches hence today’s battle will be their 32nd duel for them before completing the season.
