Africa-Press – Tanzania. DEFENDING champions Simba start defending their Azam Sports Federation Cup (ASFC) ti- tle by hosting Majimaji at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam today (December 27, 2020).
Simba who are the defending champions of ASFC believe that they have the required quality to silence the visiting side and move on to the fourth round of the competition.
The Msimbazi Street Reds defeated Namungo FC 2-1 last season to lift the prestigious title and complete a treble of trophies they lifted in the past season hence, it is another glorious chance for them to begin defending the championship.
After losing their CAF Champions League (CAF CL) first leg tie to FC Platinum by 1-0, Simba will surely put on a spirited fight today to erase the CAF CL nightmares and bring back winning confidence to the players.
Coach Sven Vandenbroeck is already aware about the importance of this game and the competition in general as such, his approach will be to get the much needed victory to progress into the next stage.
He will be searching his second ASFC silverware at the helm of the Msimbazi Street based giants and with the depth of the squad he has, he ought to make sure that he plays well his cards. However, the tricky part of this contest is that once you lose the game, you are instantly eliminated as such, teams play lungs out to make sure that they get the tangible outcome after the normal period of play.
Majimaji are not a new side in the country’s football circles as they last competed in the top flight league in 2017-18 season before being relegated to the First Division League (FDL) where they are currently trading.
Their last Premier League match in 2017-18 campaign was against Simba at Majimaji Stadium in Songea which elapsed in a 1-1 draw with the hosts scoring first via Marcelo Kaheza before Haruna Niyonzima equalised through a spot kick. As such, on paper, the Songea based club look inferior to Simba but throughout the 90 minutes of play, anything can surface in a game of football thereby, there is no need for the ASFC defending champions to underrate them. In other ASFC fixtures today, last season’s finalists Namungo will entertain Green Worriors in another hot battle for the contest while Mtibwa Sugar will take on Geita Gold.
However, from this season, if it happens that the winner of the Mainland Premier League also clinches the ASFC trophy, then the second place occupants in the top flight league will earn a chance to represent the country in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Previously, in such circumstances, the finalist of ASFC were given the opportunity to fly high the national flag in CAF Confederation Cup duels like what Namungo is doing now.
