Pluijm takes positives from defeat

Dar es Salaam. Head coach of Young Africans Hans Van der Pluijm has accepted defeat gratefully after their 3-1 humbling at the hands of Ghana’s Medeama FC.

The Dutch trainer is still in search of his first win in the group stage of the Caf Confederation Cup with two games remaining.  The Jangwani Street giants, who are in group A of the Africa’s second tier club competition, trail at the bottom with just a point from four matches.

Tuesday’s defeat to the team they drew one-all in Dar es Salaam a few days ago all but quashed their hopes of sailing through to the semi-final stage. 

The former Heart of Lions boss is disappointed with the output of his charges, but will take consolation from their second half performance to spur the Tanzanian champions on. 

“It was a difficult match looking at the way we started and conceded that early goal, but we managed to get the team together to play like we planned, that is why even after we conceded the second goal, we did not defend but fought to get a goal,” he said “I believe that we could have got something out of this game especially in the second half when we played better and created more chances.”

“It is not a lost cause for my team because the players have gained some experience and we believe that the remaining two matches will be much positive.”

Yanga, as they are well known in the country, host MO Bejaia of Algeria in their next group game in dire need of victory to maintain the remote chance of qualifying to the semifinals of the competition.

They will later wind up their group assignments with a tricky match against leaders TP Mazembe of DR Congo.

In Tuesday’s encounter, Abbas Mohammed bagged a brace as Medeama cruised into a 3-1 win over the Pluijm’s goal-shy side on a cut-up pitch in Sekondi.

Daniel Amoah also scored for the Ghanaians, whose winning margin would have been wider had Malik Akowuah not had an early penalty kick blocked.

Simon Msuva converted a penalty for Yanga, but it could not help them reduce the margin at the end of the 90 minutes.

Medeama stayed third with five points, behind Mouloudia Bejaia on goal difference, but these placings could have been reversed if the Algerians lose to TP Mazembe. The two teams were in action last evening.