It`s battle of titans for Simba, Yanga

A battle of titans to be fought at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam today will close heated debates and ease tension that has tortured Simba and Yanga fans for nearly one month, on who, between the two, are Tanzania’s soccer kings.

The Msimbazi Street side and their traditional Jangwani valley archrivals – both Dar es Salaam-based – clash in a Mainland Vodacom Premier League scheduled to kick off at 4pm.

Simba won the first leg tie staged on October 30 last year with Musa Hassan Mgosi scoring the lone goal.

Simba have already won the title to book a place to represent Tanzania in the CAF Champions League next year. Yanga have also finished second and will represent the country in the Confederation Cup.

The game is a formality, but it will be more important to Simba who are hell-bent on maintaining their unbeaten record of not losing a single game.

They were crowned champions with two games to go after playing 20 matches; winning 18 and drawing two to reach 56 points mark. The team trained by Zambian Patrick Phiri drew with Kagera 1-1 and African Lyon with the same margin. They will date Mtibwa Sugar in their last game.

Yanga who beat Simba 2-1 in the promotional Tusker Cup last year, have 48 points after winning 15 matches, three draws and lost two games.

Serbian Kostadin Papic’s team will play Prisons in their last game of the 12-team league. The champions go into the match without their head coach Phiri who is yet to return from Zambia, leaving technical bench with former Simba players – Selemani Matola and Amri Said.

Simba are the only Tanzanian club remaining in the Caf competitions. They eliminated Lengthens FC of Zimbabwe to qualify to play Harass Al Hodoud of Egypt in the Confederation Cup. The first leg match will be staged in Dar es Salam this month. Yanga were beaten by Lupopo of Democratic Republic of Congo to go out of the Champions League.

Probable lineups:

Simba: Juma Kaseja, Salum Kanoni, Juma Jabu, Kelvin Yondan, Joseph Owino, Juma Nyosso, Ramadhani Chombo, Nico Nyagawa, Mussa Mgosi, Emmanuel Okwi, Ulimboka Mwakingwe.

Yanga: Obren, Shadrack Nsajigwa, John Njoroge, Wisdom Ndlovu, Nadir Haroub ‘Cannavaro’, Godfrey Bonny, Athuman Idd, Abdi Kassim, Kiggi Makassy, Mrisho Ngassa.