Home loss leaves Yanga with a mountain to climb
Yanga’s striker Heritier Makambo (center) controls the balls during the African Champions League match against Rivers United at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar yesterday. Yanga lost the match 1-0. Photo | Courtesy
What you need to know:
- Young Africans (Yanga) need at least a 2-0 victory against Rivers United in order to qualify for the second preliminary stage in Nigeria on September 19 this year
Dar es Salaam. Football giants Young Africans SC (‘Yanga’) face a tough African Champions League’s return leg encounter against Rivers United of Nigeria after losing 1-0 to the Nigerians at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Yanga needed at least 2-0 victory against Rivers United in order to qualify for the second preliminary stage in Nigeria on September 19. The team also needs at least 1-0 victory in an away match in order so as to level terms before the match must be decided by penalties shootouts.
Rivers scored through their Moses Omoduemuke in the 62nd following mistakes made by the Yanga defenders. Yanga created many scoring chances in the encounter, but their strikers, Heritier Makambo, Yacouba Sogne and attacking midfielder Feisal Salum, missed them all.
Yanga’s tactician, Nesredine Nabi, made several changes aiming to come out with positive results, but all these proved futile.
In another development, Azam FC recorded a 3-1 victory against Horseed of Somalia on Saturday in an African Confederation Cup encounter at the Azam Complex in the city.
The victory puts Azam FC in a good position to qualify for the second preliminary round - they will then need only draw to qualify. Horseed were the first to score in the 22nd minute through Ibrahim Nor - and Ayoub Lyanga equalized 10 minutes later. Then the D R Congo striker Idris Mbombo scored the second in the 73rd.
The team’s defender Lusajo Mwaikenda scored the third goal in the 78th minute. The two clubs will meet again on September 18 in Mogadishu, and the winner will face Egypt’s Pyramids FC. The team’s head coach, George Lwandamina, commended the players for the good results and urged them not to be satisfied with that, as they still have an away match to contend with. Last Friday, Biashara Mara United won 1-0 against Dikhil of Djibouti at the El Hadj Hassan Gouled in Ville de Djibouti Stadium.
Biashara Mara’s goal was scored by Denis Nkane in the 52nd. The two clubs will meet again at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on September 18, and the winner will face the winner of the Hay Alwady Nyala of Sudan match with Al Ahli Tripoli of Libya.
