Africa-Press – Tanzania. MAPINDUZI Cup seems to be the only throne that brightly heralds Simba’s domestic excellence after dropping their second title in their loss to Young Africans in Mwanza on Saturday.
Simba lost their Community Shield throne to Yanga after a 1-0 loss at Benjamin Mkapa in the season opener while the loss of the Azam Sports Federation Cup (ASFC) title came at the time when their Premier League throne seems too slippery to grab.
Yanga are sure to dethrone Simba their league title as they just need three points in their four remaining games to be crowned league champions.
Still besides the poor run in the domestic football, Simba had an excellent performance in the continental level competition and the best from this season is reaching the quarter final stage of the CAF Confederation Cup where they were eliminated by Orlando Pirates on penalty shootout.
It was sad day for Simba fans and supporters after losing the vital silverware.
Midfield maestro scored a superb goal that steered Yanga to the ASFC final after their hard earned victory over their traditional rivals Simba at CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza.
Yanga will face the winner of the second semifinal match between Azam and Coastal Union at Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium in Arusha today.
The Federation Cup’s final will be staged at the same venue on July 2nd this year.
It was a sweet revenge to Yanga as they lost by a similar margin to Simba during the tournament’s final at Lake Tanganyika Stadium in Kigoma last year.
Ugandan import Thadeo Lwanga scored the winner for Simba on that day.
Yanga looked determined to win right from the start and it was in the 9th minute when Yanga tested Simba through Djuma Shaaban’s cross, which failed to find strikers; Fiston Mayele and Heritier Makambo who were poorly positioned to head it home.
Simba responded in the 13th minute, when a well-taken freekick by Mohamedi Hussein following Dickson Job’s foul on Chris Mugalu was wasted for a fruitless corner.
Fiston Mayele who was on fine form yesterday was close to score in 16th minute after a one-two pass exchanges with Feisal Salum, who at the end shot off target.
Yanga, the NBC Premier League leaders, had to wait until the 26th minute to celebrate their opener.
It was Feisal Salum whose thunderbolt from outside the box went to the side of the past goalie Beno Kakolanya.
In 31th minute, a free kick from Khalid Aucho went a few inches wide and two minutes later, Yanga’s Kibwana Shomari was shown a yellow card by referee Ahmed Arajiga for a rough tackle on Kibu Dennis.
In 37th minute Mugalu was close to equalise, but his powerful header went above Yanga’s cross bar by a whisker.
In the second half, Simba’s Head Coach Pablo Franco, made changes whereas he brought in Larry Bwalya in place of Mzamiru Yassin the substitution that looked fruitful for Simba as they started to dominate midfield.
In 56th minute Kakolanya denied Yanga’s striker Fiston Mayele a scoring a chance when punched to safety his tricky shot.
Pape Ousmane Sakho, who played well for Simba, unleashed a beautiful volley after he rounded on Yannick Bangala on the right, but Yanga defenders stood firm to clear the danger.
In the 65th minute, Shomari was forced out after he sustained an injury and Pablo made two changes later as he brought in Meddie Kagere for Thadeo Lwanga while Yusuf Mhilu replaced Kibu Dennis who was injured while Yanga’s coach Nasredine Nabi brought in Crispin Ngushi for Makambo and later Zawadi Mauya replaced Feisal Salum, but no more goal came until the end of tense 90 minutes.
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