Africa-Press – Tanzania. TEAMS from Tanzania mainland have again dominated the ongoing Mapinduzi Cup tournament unfolding at Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar thereby increasing their chances to retain the title.
This comes after three out of four teams which competed in the contest from Zanzibar were eliminated in the preliminary stages hence deprived an opportunity to reach into the last four and possibly win the silverware.
They are Jamhuri, Mlandege and Chipukizi which despite flexing their muscles to shine in the annual competition, things have turned out not to be what they aimed for.
They simply need to go back on the drawing table and find a winning formula which will help them to do well in another edition of the same event scheduled early next year.
On the other hand, three teams from Tanzania mainland which are Young Africans, Simba and Namungo successfully cruised into the semifinals after attaining good points from the games they played.
Namungo are competing for the first time and despite losing 1-0 to Yanga in their first match, they went on to demolish Jamhuri 2-0 on Friday thanks to goals netted by Eric Kwizera and Stephen Seyi.
The other game between Azam and Mlandizi targeted to produce one more side to complete a package of four teams required in the semifinals was played last night at the same venue.
The winner between them will automatically face Yanga since the other last four duel will see Simba taking on Namungo in what has already been described as a classic battle of the tournament.
However, the departure of then defending champions Mtibwa Sugar who became the first team from this side to farewell the showpiece means this year, the Mapinduzi Cup crown will be given to new champions.
It was Simba who sent packing Mtibwa Sugar courtesy of a 2-0 triumph hence revenging the 1-0 setback they suffered in the finals of the same competition last year which declared the Morogoro based side champions of the tournament.
There is however a possibility that the explosive Premier League traditional derby clash between Simba and Yanga can be experienced in the finals of the tournament to make it more colourful.
Both Simba and Yanga are missing some of their key players during the Mapinduzi Cup mission as they have been called into the national team Taifa Stars squad while others have been permitted to visit their families as the league has been momentarily paused.
