Africa-Press – Uganda. Over the last month, Taddeo Lwanga has adapted fast and settled in quickly at the heart of the midfield for his new club Simba SC.
Donning shirt number 4, the solid football engineer is one of the names set to have a place on the field as the Tanzanian club opens its Group A business in the Caf Champions League away to AS Vita in DR Congo capital Kinshasa tonight. “A good performance and a better result,” the former SC Villa and Vipers’ skipper said of his expectations via phone from Kinshasa.
This will be his first match in the competition since a second-leg 2-0 loss (3-0 loss on aggregate) with Vipers to Algeria’s CS Constantine during the tournament’s first round at St-Mary’s Stadium in Kitende on December 22, 2018.
The match also comes after Lwanga’s first piece of silverware – the Simba Super Cup – won under the guise of new coach Didier Gomes da Rosa after edging DR Congo’s TP Mazembe and Sudan’s Al-Hilal.
Good representation
Uganda is represented by five players at this stage including three goalkeepers and TP Mazembe left-back Joseph Ochaya.
Ochaya’s side in Group B is seeking to win the title for a sixth time and they begin the quest at home to Algerian side CR Belouizdad in Lubumbashi tomorrow. The same group has Uganda Cranes’ skipper Denis Onyango whose South African club Mamelodi Sundowns hosts Al-Hilal who have another Cranes’ goalkeeper Salim Jamal at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
Jamal has kept four clean sheets in his last four Sudanese top-flight league appearances while 2016 Champions League winner Onyango, has also managed 10 clean sheets in 14 games to lift Sundowns to the summit of DStv Premiership. In Group C, Horoya AC of Guinea who have another Cranes’ custodian Robert Odongkara in their ranks, host Angola’s Petro de Luanda.
Group A also has defending champions Egyptian giants Al Ahly who, upon return from the Fifa Club World Cup, host Sudanese side Al Merrikh at the Cairo International Stadium on Tuesday night.
Champions league
GROUP STAGE – MATCH DAY 1 – TODAY (GROUP A)
10pm: AS Vita (DRC) vs. Simba (TAN)
TOMORROW – GROUP B
4pm: TP Mazembe (DRC)
vs. CR Belouizdad (ALG)
7pm: Sundowns (RSA)
vs. Al Hilal (SUD)
GROUP C
7pm: Horoya (GUI) vs. Petro de Luanda (ANG)
