St. George’s Isaac Isinde (L ) in tussle with Yanga`s striker, Jerryson Tegete when their teams met in the semifinal of Kagame Castle Cup at the national stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Yanga won 5-4 to qualify for final scheduled on Sunday. (Photo: Tryphone Mweji)
Yanga sailed into this year’s Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Kagame Castle Cup final after their 5-4 penalty shootouts win against St. George of Ethiopia at the National Stadium yesterday.
The win means Yanga will now face their arch-rivals Simba in the final at 4pm while St George will play El Mereikh for the third position at 2pm at the same stadium tomorrow.
Yanga were the first to attack in the 10th minute when Jerry Tegete’s shot missed target while in good position to score.
St. George responded in the 16th minute when Prince Godwin failed to utilize Suleiman Mohamed’s cross.
Chacha Marwa of Yanga played well in the 20th minute when he blocked a shot by St. George’s striker Salahidn Said inside the box.
In the 33 minute Yanga launched another attack when St. George’s goalkeeper Robert Odongkara was forced at full stretch to save Godfrey Taita’s power packed shot.
In the first minute of the second half, a Shadrack Nsajigwa powerful shot burst the net and landed into the goal but it was ruled out by referee Denis Batte from Uganda with Yanga players and supporters celebrating.
The Ugandan import goalkeeper was called again in the 56th minute when he punched out a close header from Taita.
Yanga head coach Sam Timbe made technical changes in the 61st minute with Kiiza Hamis replacing Kiggi Makassy.
Miss calculation by Yanga defenders in the 69th minutes saw St George’s Said scoring but referee ruled it for offside.
Yanga maintained a big part of possession and made more goal attempts than their opponents throughout the match but without a goal.
The match ended with the score sheet reading 0-0 forcing the teams to play in the extra time.
St. George’s coach Ernie Brandts also made technical changes in the extra time benching Suleiman Mohamed, Michael Desta and Alula Girma for Adane Girma and Ugandan imports Athony Bongole and Sula Matovu respectively.
In the 100th minute of the extra time Yanga coach brought in Rashid Gumbo for Jerry Tegete.
However, there was no goals during the extra time forcing penalty shootouts.
Yanga penalties were converted by Nadir Haroub, Juma Seif, Davis Mwape, Kiiza Hamis and Nurdin Bakari while captain Shadrack Nsajigwa’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Odongkara.
Penalty winners for St George’s were Abebaw Butako, Degu Debebe, Isaac Isinde and Adade Girma, while Salahidin Said and Athony Bongole missed their shootouts.
Line-ups:
St George:
Robert Odongkara, Degu Debebe, Abebaw Butako, Alula Girma, Isaac Isinde, Yared Zinadu, Michael Desta, Abdulkarim Hassan, Salahidin Said, Prince Godwin, Suleiman Mohamed.
Yanga:
Yaw Berko, Shadrack Nsajigwa, Godfrey Taita, Oscar Joshua, Chacha Marwa, Nadir Haroub, Nurdin Bakari, Jerry Tegete, Davis Mwape, Juma Seif, Kiggi Makass
