Simba meet Chipukizi today

Simba Sports Club players train at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

Simba head coach, Patrick Aussems will use the match as part of preparations ahead of the January 12 African Champions League encounter against JS Saoura

Dar es Salaam. Soccer giants Simba will start their campaign of winning Mapinduzi Cup against Chipukizi of Pemba at the Amaan Stadium today.

The group ‘A’ match has been scheduled to start from 8pm. This will be preceded by another duel pitting Jamhuri against Malindi from 4pm at the same venue.

Apart from targeting the silverware, Simba will use the tournament as part of preparations for African Champions’ League groups stage encounter against Jeunesse Sportive de la Saoura to be held on January 12 at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Chipukizi is one of the top teams in the Zanzibar league and represented the Isles in the CAF Confederation Cup in 2008.

The match is not easy for Simba. Simba fans still remember the shock elimination against first division side, Mashujaa FC of Kigoma Region in the Azam HD Federation Cup by 3-2 at the National Stadium.

Simba SC head coach, Patrick Aussems said they are not underrating their opponents and will field a strong squad in order to win. Aussems said they recognise the significance of the tournament and decided to travel to Zanzibar with all members of the first team.

“We have set our target to win the encounter as well as the trophy, we know it is not easy to achieve that, we need to work hard as most of the teams competing in the event are very strong.

It is the best tournament in history and Simba understand that, we will also use it as part of tpreparations for CAF Champions League match against Algeria’s side JS Saoura, so if we will qualify for the quarter finals, our first team will not play the encounter and we will field U-20 players, this is because the finals match of the tournament is on January 13 and we need to play JS on January 12,” said Aussems.

Meanwhile, defending champions, Azam FC recorded a 1-1 draw against Jamhuri of Pemba in a group B encounter. Azam FC scored their goal through Tafadzwa Kutinyu via a penalty kick after Jamhuri’s defender handling the ball in danger zone. Jamhuri equalised in the 67th through Abdul Ramadhan.

The results are shocking for Azam FC which need to win all its remaining matches in group B. The team lead the group standings with one point and Jamhuri is second also with one point.

Other teams in group B are KVZ, and Malindi. The opening encounter saw Malindi record barren draw against KVZ.

The tournament also expected to feature teams from Uganda, but they failed to secure permission from that country’s football governing body, FUFA. The winner of the tournament will take home Sh15 million. The organisers said many teams showed interest to feature in the event whose final will be played at the Gombani Stadium in Pemba.

Two top teams in each group will qualify for the final match.