Israel Saria
Simba shocked visiting Egyptian El Hadood by 2-1 goals in the first leg match of the CAF Confederations tournament played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The home side displayed a lackluster show in the first half while plotting sporadic attacks as the visitors dominated midfield possession.
The absence of Simbaís midfielder Mohamed Banka was highly conspicuous as Nico Nyagawa and Jerry Santo were not effective to hold the slipperly Egyptians.
The match started with both teams in frantic efforts to find an early opener. The visitors increased their attacking pace as the game peaked to take firm control of midfield possession.
El Hadood were just unfortunate not to open the score during the early minutes of the first half. They played brilliantly with resultant onslaughts that almost caused havoc to Simba.
El Hadoodís Malian striker Abdoulaye Sidibe, tormented Simba defence early on and it was their goalkeeper Juma Kaseja who worked above the call of duty to thwart goal bound shots.
Uhuru Suleiman had shot wide after 15 minutes to waste a brave fight by team mate Emmanuel Okwi.
Simba came close to score in the dying minutes of the first half only for the visitorís Cameroon import goalkeeper Martin Kameni, to make a brilliant save.
The teams progressed into the dressing rooms deadlocked.
Simbaís Ugandan import Emmanuel Okwi capitalised on a gift back head pass by El Hadood defender to score one of the dayís easiest goals, eight minutes after resumption.
Coach Patrick Phiri replaced Nico Nyagawa for Kenyan import Mike Barasa.
The changes proved effective as Simba regained life in the midfield to stabilise attacks upfront.
The home side reorganized to launch attacks on their opponents with a rekindled pace and well coordinated onslaughts.
Simbaís talismanic striker Musa Hassan scored the second goal after taking advantage of El Hadoodís defensive mix up during a melee after 71 minutes.
Defender Joseph Owino worked above the call of duty to clear a goal-bound shot soon after Simba had scored their second goal.
The visitors still were on prowl in Simba defense in search of an away goal as they penetrated the home side defence.
Ahmed Eid responded after 76 minutes to pull one goal back for the visitors after poor marking by Simba defenders.
Joseph Owino headed over the cross bar with El Hadood goalkeeper Kameni well beaten seven minutes to time.
Simba searched for the killer goal but poor finishing and tight marking by the visitors crippled their efforts.
They threw over board a host of scoring opportunities that came their way in the final half.
The return leg tie will be played in Egypt in a fortnight and it was not immediately known whether it will be in Alexandria or Cairo.
Line-ups:
Simba:
Juma Kaseja, Salum Kanoni, Juma Jabu, Kelvin Yondani, Joseph Owino, Nico Nyagawa/Mike Barasa, Jerry Santo, Uhuru Suleiman/ Mohamed Kijuso, Ramadhan Chombo, Musa Hassan, Emmanuel Okwi.
El Hadood:
Martin Kameni, Ahmed Kamal, Ahmed Suleiman, Ahmed Said, Ahmed Eid, Abdelrahman Mohie, Mohamed Mekki, Abdel-Rahman Farouk, Ahmed Hassan Mekky, Islam Ramadan, Abdoulaye SidibÈ/Mohamed Hamed.
Referee: Martin Cavalho ( Angola)
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