AfricaPress-Tanzania: RED hot Simba will be eager to channel their Super Cup momentum into the Premier League as they face Dodoma Jiji at Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma on Thursday.
It will be the battle between the second and tenth placed sides with each adamant to claim maximum three points to keep climbing up the league ladders.
For Simba, they desperately need to win the encounter to keep chasing current league leaders Young Africans as the race for the title at the end of the season heats up.
After today’s game, the defending champions expect to host third placed Azam on Sunday at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam in another mouthwatering clash between the two sides.
With 35 points from 15 duels, the defending champions are aware that they trail Yanga with 9 points, meaning that if they succeed in all their three matches in hand, they will overtake the Jangwani Street-based club courtesy of goal difference.
Simba have so far netted 37 goals from 15 matches, more than any other team in the league while their main challengers Yanga have scored 29 goals from 18 clashes.
It will be the first Mainland Premier League match for the team’s Head Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa, who on several occasions, has been reiterating that his main target is to ensure that Simba retains the silverware.
He once said winning the top flight league consistently will assure them frequent appearance in the Champions League that is why their top priority is on the clinching of the domestic title.
On the other hand, hosts Dodoma Jiji are not a side to be easily written off mainly when they take on league giants (Yanga, Simba and Azam). They too demand triumph to move up on the ladders away from their current 10th slot which is not completely safe for them as far as staying put in the contest next season is concerned.
They do have 22 points in the bag after six wins, four draws and seven losses. Their past game before the league was momentarily suspended, it was an upset for them after losing 1-0 to Mwadui FC in Shinyanga.
Born October 10th 1969, Didier Gomes Da Rosa is a French football manager and former player who is the current manager of Tanzanian club Simba SC.
He is famous for making an impressive impact in all the clubs he has managed in his early years in the African continent winning the league titles with Rayon Sports F.C. (2013), Coton Sport FC de Garoua (2014 and 2015) and also the Cameroonian Cup at the Garoua-based club.
