Yanga wary as Algier tie looms

Dar es Salaam. Anxiety is building at Young Africans after being drawn against a North African team in the Caf Confederation Cup playoffs.

Yanga, as they are fondly known, will meet Mouloudia Club d’Alger or simply MC Alger of Algeria in a double-legged encounter whose winners will advance to the group stage of the continent’s second tier club championship.

It may be bad news for Yanga family as their team hosts the first leg tie at the National Stadium on April 8 before travelling to Algiers for the decider a fortnight later.

Yanga qualified for the playoffs after losing their African Champions League first round duty to Zanaco FC of Zambia last weekend.

However, being pitted against the Algerian giants means the end of the road for many of their pessimistic supporters.

The Mainland champions have a poor record against North African teams as they have never eliminated any team from the region.

Nonetheless, Yanga’s ageless defender and captain Nadir Haroub expressed confidence that they have all it takes to defy the odds this time around.

“Yes, Yanga have always struggled against teams from that region, but I believe that we can defy the odds this year,” said the 35-year old defender.

“It will be a difficult match, for sure, but nobody should try to write us off, we are capable of recording a big win at home and protect it in Algiers.”

He added: “We exited the Champions League without a loss, so I am confident that we will fare well against MC Alger.” Yanga’s leading scorer Simon Msuva was equally confident of seeing off the Algerian side, but stressed that they have to train hard if they are to clear the hurdle.

“It’s bad news is that we will start at home; the Algerian team, as usual, will come here to defend, so we have to be in devilishly top scoring form. We must train hard to ensure that we win the first leg by a big margin,” the 23-year-old said.

Adding his voice to the Yanga-Alger encounter, prominent coach Mshindo Msolla advised Yanga’s technical team to come up with a foolproof strategy of seeing off the Algerians. “It’s a bad draw for them. However, if they can have their strikers, Donald Ngoma and Amissi Tambwe fit, they can have a reason to believe in qualification,” said Msola. Yanga secretary general Charles Boniface Mkwasa admitted that it is a tough draw, but voiced his optimism that their team would draw a new history by booting out MC Algier.

“It’s tough facing teams from that region. However, we still have time to prepare and hopefully our coach (George Lwandamina) will come up with a special strategy that will see us through to the group stage,” he said.