Africa-Press – Tanzania. NORMAL chores countrywide are set to be on standstill to pave way for the Dar es Salam Derby that pits Simba against their traditional rivals Young Africans at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium today.
This will be the first derby in the 2021/22 Premier League season with each team looking determined to pocket vital three points at the end of the 90- minute thriller.
Only two points separate the two sides as the league toppers; Yanga have stamped 19 points from seven games while Simba stay glued to the second slot with 17 points after seven-game outings hence; a win will see either of them claim their stay at the helm.
A lot has been said prior to this epic match and now, it is time to let the boots and the natural grass at the 60,000-seater do the talking to see who deserves to be the winner. Both teams won their previous league encounters with Yanga defeating Mbeya Kwanza 2-0 at Sokoine Stadium in Mbeya while Simba saw off Geita Gold with a 2-1 win at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
However, in an extraordinary circumstances, the technical panel of Simba led by Head Coach Pablo Franco refused to conduct a pre-match meeting as they protested about the appearance of the logo of the league’s co-sponsors GSM on the background banner inside the press room.
The panel arrived timely at the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) headquarters for the pre-match meeting but upon seeing the GSM logo, they denied to go inside for the task.
The club’s Acting Information Officer Ally Shatry could be heard saying “remove that first (the banner)” if they were to go inside and conduct the meeting until they finally left the premises. For Yanga, the team’s Head Coach Nasreddine Nabi said they are fully prepared for the match even though he is aware that it will be a tough encounter.
“Derbies are always 50-50 meaning that no team is guaranteed a victory, but we have psychologically prepared well our players to respect the opponents throughout the tense game.
“We have given them (players) a good game plan which they need to execute as the match unfolds of which will be of big importance to help us emerge winners,” said Nabi whose past traditional derby meeting was in a Community Shield game that ended 1-0 in favour of his team.
Again, the Tunisian trainer outlined that he alerted his players to refrain from embracing unnecessary pressure generated by social media platforms saying they can make them lose focus if they concentrate on them.
About which players will miss the match, Nabi opted not to give remarks on the matter saying it is his secret as such, no need to mention it to the public.
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