Azam FC leaves for South Africa tomorrow
Azam FC defender Pascal Wawa (Centre) and a team mate during a recent tranning session at Azam complex in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
The entourage will include 25 players, nine officials of technical bench and four leaders.
Dar es Salaam. Azam Football Club leaves tomorrow for South Africa for their first leg of the first round of CAF Confederation Cup against Bidvest Wits.
The entourage will include 25 players, nine officials of technical bench and four leaders.
Azam who compete in the CAF confederation cup tournament by virtue of being last year’s Premier League runner up, will play their hosts on Saturday according to the club Chief Executive Officer Saad Kawemba.
Kawemba has expressed his optimism that Azam FCis going to face their rivals with just one mission to win their away match. “Playing an away match is difficult because our rivals will have a home-ground advantage, but that does not guarantee them a victory.
Azam will depend on their sensational strikers, among others John Bocco, Ivorian Kipre Tcheche, Burundian Didier Kavumbagu to outsmart their opponents. The ice cream makers will also depend on a roving defender Nadir Serge Pascal Wawa to win away match.
However the team is facing uphill task against Wits (Clever Boys) which won 9-0 (aggregate) victory over LightStars FC at Bidvest Stadium in the preliminary round.
The Clever Boys triumphed 3-0 in the Seychelles in the first leg and an even better performance on their home turf ensured an emphatic scoreline for the South African side.
Wits depend on Siyabonga Nhlapo, Joaquim Lupeta, Sibusiso Vilakazi in the striking force.
Azam faces a Wits side that-just like themselves- are placed third in their respective league logs.
Parallel comparisons have Wits with five league losses compared to Azam’s one, further highlighting the contrasting levels of competition in both leagues.
Premier Soccer League 2013/14 season player of the year Sibusiso Vilakazi is fully fit and should the South African international earn a start in Hunt’s team, the menacing presence of the Azam midfield trio of Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza, Himid Mao and Ame Ally will set up a grueling encounter.
Azam have an edge over Wits, at least based on away form. Wits might have treated Light Stars FC to a sound beating from the first round but Azam presents a different kettle of fish.
A side conditioned to play against the loudest of stadia for close to a decade is what should make the unfolding spectacle dreary for Wits.
