Yanga face do-or-die CAF match against Marumo Gallants today

Rustenburg. Tanzania’s envoys in the CAF Confederation Cup, Young Africans (Yanga), today face an uphill task against Marumo Gallants of South Africa.

The two teams will meet at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng at 7pm Tanzanian time and Yanga need only a draw or victory in order to qualify for the final of the competition for the first time in their history.

The encounter will be officiated by Libyan referee Ibrahim Mutaz at the centre and assisted by Attia Essa Amsaad, also from Libya and Tunisian Khalil Hassani. The match’s reserve referee is Mehrez Malki from Tunisia. Yanga won 2-0 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in the first leg played on May 10, thanks to the goals scored by Stephane Azizi Ki and Bernard Morrison. However, Morission did not travel to South Africa due to unavoidable reasons.

Yanga head coach Nasreddine Nabi said they will play with determination in order to come out with a good result, despite facing a strong opposition from Marumo, who have managed to win six matches at their home ground. The Tunisian tactician said all of his players are in good shape to face their South African rivals, despite the cold weather.

 "We are facing a challenging task as we play away against a team with experience in international competitions." I am proud of my players, who, I believe, will not let Tanzanians down," said Nabi.

 Yanga captain Bakari Mwamnyeto said they are ready to fight till the last drop of their sweat in the encounter, aiming to sail through to the final of the competition.

"It is not going to be an easy match because even Marumo are targeting to register victory as we are, we will fight for the club and for the country as well," said Mwamnyeto.

For his part, Marumo Gallants assistant coach Raymond Mdaka said they are optimistic about eliminating Yanga from the competition, despite their first leg loss in Tanzania. Mdaka explained that his players failed to utilize various clear scoring chances well in their away encounter and believe they will not do the same at their home ground.

"We created several clear scoring chances in the encounter but failed to convert them into goals. We are not going to repeat the same mistakes at our home ground; our players will be keen to utilize all chances and kick out Yanga from the competition," he said.