Author: ELKANA KUHENGA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: DAR ES SALAAMbased giants Simba and Azam face today tough away hurdles in their Premier League duties against Coastal Union and KMC respectively.
KMC one of the Premier League diehards, welcome Azam at the Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam whereas Simba will be trying to clear Coastal Union hurdle at Sheikh Amri Abeid stadium in Arusha at the same time.
Azam who leading the title race with 25 points, having won eight of the ten games, will be trying to restore their pride after a 1-0 shocking loss tom Mtibwa 1-0 last month.
The team also drew with JKT Tanzania in one of the matches. Azam had dominated in the beginning, won consecutive seven games before Mtibwa ruining their joy.
After the loss and draw; they went home and punished Dodoma Jiji 3-0 at Azam Complex Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Their opponents KMC are placed sixth in the table after grabbing 15 points with four wins, three draws and lost thrice.
KMC in their last three games, recorded a hefty 3-0 win over Gwambina, then drew 1-1 with Biashara United and lost 2-1 against Young Africans.
If KMC win today they will bag 18 points and elevate to the fourth place while a victory for Azam will see them widening their gap over their closest challengers Young Africans by four points.
On the other encounter Simba will have a huge assignment over Coastal Union as both sides have been in good form this season.
Both teams will have reasons to seek a win with a number of reasons. Simba on their side had lost two consecutive matches to Tanzania Prisons and Ruvu Shooting, both by 1-0 last month; though they later regained composure with voluminous 5-0 win over Mwadui 5-0 and 2-0 against Kagera Sugar Before registering a 1-1 draw with their traditional rivals Young Africans this November.
Their opponents Coastal Union had the best performance in their last five games; they have won twice 3-0 over Biashara United and 1-0 over Mtibwa Sugar.
Then they drew 0-0 with KMC 0-0 and 1-1 with Gwambina before losing 3-1 to Ruvu Shooting. Any win for Coastal will elevate them to the ninth place but if they win at least four goals, they will take the eighth position in the league log.
Simba will only need to win to reduce the gap with its rivals Yanga who at the second place behind leaders Azam. Simba who currently placed third, have pocketed 20 points while Yanga are above them with 24 points.
But there are clubs still threatened by relegation and among them are JKT Tanzania who are placed thirteenth place and the 14th- placed Gwambina, both have netted ten points each. At the bottom are Ihefu who have penned only five points.
JKT and Gwambina will clash today at Samora Stadium in Iringa while Ihefu will face Police Tanzania at Azam Complex Stadium. Police Tanzania are seventh-placed.
