Africa-Press – Tanzania. LEADERS Young Africans will be keen to stamp their 13th win of the season when they take on debutants Ihefu FC at Sokoine Stadium in Mbeya today.
The Jangwani Street-based club still enjoys the pilot seat at the top of the 18-team table with 40 points garnered after 12 victories and four draws.
However, today’s match will mark the end of the season’s first round for both teams which has been a mixture of good and bad memories depending on the performance of the concerned team.
Yanga seem to have gained the highly needed team spirit which has been their driving force to fight hard for good results in most of the encounters they have played.
In their recent league results, they came from behind to thrash Dodoma Jiji 3-1 at Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium in Arusha in one of the tough Premier League fixtures of the season.
As such, it remains a puzzle if they will replicate the same performance against Ihefu of which, if they succeed, will take them to 43rd points at the summit of the league table.
For Ihefu, they have had a sour first round of the league as they have managed only three wins from 16 games played to occupy the 16th slot with 13 points in hand.
They, however, head into the match full of confidence after winning their two back to back games they have hosted, beginning with a 2-1 victory over Kagera Sugar at Sokoine Stadium and another 1-0 triumph against KMC held at their backyard Highland Estate Stadium in Mbarali.
On top of that, the Mbarali outfits have hired the services of veteran goalkeeper Deogratius Munishi as they want to add experienced players in their squad to help them fight for the league survival.
There is no doubt that Munishi will be of great help for the team basing on his renowned vast experience of Tanzania football after working for big teams like Simba, Yanga and the national team Taifa Stars.
Backed by experienced coach Zuberi Katwila, Ihefu look like they may make a U-turn in the second round of the contest by thriving to win many games to climb up the league ladders and avoid fighting for relegation.
However, to easily achieve that, they need to go on the proceeding mini transfer window market to buy some players who they think can play lungs out to help the team stay put in the top flight league competition next season
