YOUNG Africans Mapinduzi Cup caretaker Said Maulid disclosed that their semifinals clash against Mtibwa Sugar in the ongoing tournament in Zanzibar will be tough as the two teams know each other well.
Yanga demolished Jamhuri 2-0 with Adeyuni Saleh and substitute Mohammed Banka scoring in each half to enable their team book a ticket into the last four against Mtibwa Sugar who overpowered Chipukizi FC 4-2 in a postmatch spot kicks on Monday.
The two Mainland Premier League sides meet today in a judgement battle to find out which team progresses into the finals of this year’s sparkling competition which initially had drawn eight teams, but now, only four will battle it up for the finals slot.
However, the contest has been simplified courtesy of the knockout mode which has led all the four teams from the Isles be eliminated hence the title is once again remaining to Tanzania Mainland.
But, speaking after the match on the day, Maulid said they are aware how difficult the game against Mtibwa Sugar will be, insisting that they will thoroughly prepare for the encounter.
He then lauded their opponents Jamhuri for staging a good resistance saying football in Zanzibar is growing at a fast pace.”I believe that Mapinduzi Cup will continue to build these players and expose them since many people watch the competition,” Maulid said.
He also said the reason why Yanga has many players from Zanzibar is because of their strong ability and competitiveness which he said cannot be equally scaled with Mainland players.Moreover, the coach said if it happens for them to play Simba SC at some point in the unfolding games, they will prepare for the encounter.
On his part, Banka whose thunder strike completely sunk his native country club said he was happy to be on this year’s Mapinduzi Cup scorer’s chart insisting that his performance is improving.”Am happy to help my team go to the next stage of the competition and hopefully, we will be able to win the cup,” said him.
In his remarks, Jamhuri coach Mustafa Hassan conceded the defeat saying they will work on the mistakes which emerged to his team for them to do better in the Zanzibar league.”It was a good test for us as we tried to put it all for the sake of winning the match, but at the end, we have lost which was not our plan,” he said.His captain Haji Mwambe said the nature of Zanzibar football deprives them quality to compete well against Mainland teams.
“Here, we face many problems as players because in the morning, we go to train and after that, we go to look for bread before going back for training session in the afternoon a thing which is not the case with our colleagues from Tanzania Mainland,” Mwambe said.
