AfricaPress-Tanzania: SIMBA Head Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has tasked his players to replicate the first half performance they had against Azam during their CAF Champions League (CAF CL) match against AS Vita on Friday.
The country’s envoys in the CAF Champions League are scheduled to leave today for DR. Congo ahead of their first assignment in the continental club’s group stages where a win will be a big boost for them.
Their target is to reach as far as in the semifinals and the path to reach that destination begins this Friday against a tough opponent. But, speaking recently in Dar es Salaam after guiding his team to a 2-2 draw by Azam in the hot Mainland Premier League tie, Didier narrated if his charges will face AS Vita by performing like the way they did versus Azam in the first half, it will be very nice for them.
“We had a very nice against Azam in the first half and I am sure that if we will approach AS Vita on Friday in the same way, it will be very nice for Simba. Simba beat Azam 1-0 in the first and displayed a class show despite missing clear chances. However, the second half was not that easy for them as Azam came from a 1-0 first half down to a 2-2 draw. “We had a chance to score almost four goals in the first half but, unfortunately, failed to utilise well the created chances.
We need to improve on scoring and make sure that the chances we hunt are used well,” he said. He added that he has full confidence with his team as such, he blames no one after the 2-2 draw as his side is committed and motivated all the time.
The game was Didier’s second in the Premier League contest of which his side has scored four goals and conceded three goals in the process as seen in the 2-1 win over Dodoma Jiji and the recent disappointing 2-2 draw with Azam.
In his remarks, Azam Assistant Coach Vivie Bahati admitted that Simba gave them a bumpy ride in the first half which forced his side to come up with new tactics in the second half.
“In the first half, we had one holding midfielder as such, after the break, we had to deploy two holding midfielders who are Mudathir Yahaya and Yahya Zayd, the duo did a good job. “With them, we were able to equalise the goal and netted the second goal but unfortunately, we failed to defend well their corner kick hence awarding them an opportunity to equalise. “By the time they equalised, we had 11 players behind the ball but failed to clear it something which is not good and we need to work on it to avoid repeating the same mistakes in our next games,” he said.
On his part, Azam’s Iddy Selemani who netted the equalising goal and provided the crucial assist for the second goal disclosed that what they were told to do in the second half after a 1-0 first half defeat.
“In the first half, we were a bit afraid of Simba because of their lethal strikers, we had no reason to fight back and force for the draw,” he said.
