AfricaPress-Tanzania: SIMBA Head Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has labeled the 1-0 victory they sourced from AS Vita on Friday as a good beginning in the CAF Champions League (CAF CL) group stages.
The country’s envoys in the biggest club football showpiece on the continent snatched the essential away win at Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo to begin their last 16 campaign on the front pedal.
A 60th minute spot kick from Chris Mugalu was what Simba needed most from the tough duel as they revenged a 5-0 deficit they suffered at the same venue from the same team in the same stage of the competition in 2019.
This time around, Simba were more organised defensively, never allowing any loophole thereby making it impossible for the hosts to cause troubles at them unlike in the past meeting whereby the Reds were heavily exposed.
However, writing on his official Instagram page, Didier wrote: “Good beginning in the Champions League with a promising away win in Kinshasa.”
Also, expressing her happiness over the pleasing results was the club’s Chief Executive Officer Barbara Gonzalez who via an Instagram post, wrote: “Simba is a mega club. The first Tanzanian team to win away in Nigeria, the first Tanzanian team to win away in DRC and the first Tanzanian team to win away in the CAF CL group stages. 2020/21 is our season.”
However, the victory has seen Simba leading their group A table with 3 points ahead of another match in the same group between Al Ahly and Al-Merrikh set on Tuesday in Egypt.
Al Ahly are the defending champions of the CAF CL and their next game will see them descending in the country to face Simba at the giant Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in the city for another possible three points for the home side.
Most football pundits have hailed the good defensive partnership between Joash Onyango and Pascal Wawa whom they said did a recommendable job to keep the gate closed throughout the tense match.
Already, the target for Simba in this competition is to reach as far as the semifinals and their journey to fulfill that began on a positive note following the triumph.
