Yanga face Mbeya City in crucial VPL rivalry

Young Africans players train at Uhuru Stadium ahead of today’s Mainland Tanzania Premier League match against Mbeya City at Uhuru Stadium. PHOTO | MICHAEL MATEMANGA

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As Young Africans look for victory to continue with their race of retaining the title for the fourth time in a row, Mtibwa Sugar will host Kagera Sugar in one of the expected exciting and tough encounter at Manungu Complex in Turiani, Morogoro.

        Dar es Salaam. Defending champions, Young Africans, today will face an acidic test of Mbeya City at Uhuru Stadium as the Mainland Tanzania Premier League continues in two different venues.

As Young Africans look for victory to continue with their race of retaining the title for the fourth time in a row, Mtibwa Sugar will host Kagera Sugar in one of the expected exciting and tough encounter at Manungu Complex in Turiani, Morogoro.

The match is expected to be the toughest and the victory is very important to the teams. In the last season, Young Africans lost 2-1 in the first leg match held at Sokoine Stadium, but Young Africans managed to register the victory with the same score margin at the national stadium.

This is also the revenge encounter for Young Africans, which lost 2-1 in the first match held at Sokoine Stadium in Mbeya Region in the first round.

Currently, Young Africans is placed third with 17 points from nine matches, while Mbeya City is placed eight with 11 points from the same number of matches.

Mbeya City head coach Ramadhan Nsanzurwimo said they were targeting victory against Young Africans and players were in top morale. Nzanzurwimo said his players were in top morale and ready to deliver the best results against the soccer giant in the country.

“We know the match will be tough for us as we play away, but my players are focused and know the importance of the match. We have rectified all mistakes in our encounter against Simba and we know how to counter Young Africans,” said Nsanzurwimo.

Young African head Coach George Lwandamina said they expected the best match and believed soccer fans would get the best entertaining game. “We will show our best.

Players are ready for the battle and are out to give celebration to the huge team fans base,” said Lwandamina.

The team will miss the services of its key players - Kelvin Yondani, Papy Kabamba Tshishimbi, Amissi Tambwe, Thabani Kamusoko, Juma Makapu and DonaldNgoma, who are sick.

He said that they knew how strong their opponents were, but he had prepared a game plan that would make them continue shining in the league.