Simba, Yanga start league with victory

Soccer giants Simba and Yanga yesterday started this year’s Vodacom Premier League campaign with wins.

Defending champions Simba defeated African Lyon 2-0 in a match played at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam while Yanga clobbered hosts Police Dodoma 1-0 in another match at Jamhuri Stadium.

Amiri Maftah scored the two goals for Simba. Maftah who featured for Yanga last year, registered the first goal for his new club in the first 15 minutes when his corner-kick went untouched into the opponents’ net.

The defender-cum-midfielder added the second in the 64th minute through a well-taken penalty. A referee awarded the penalty after an African Lyon defender had rough-tackled Nicodemus Nyagawa.

Simba head coach Patrick Phiri said after the game that he was happy with the win. “We have rectified mistakes which made us lose against our archrivals Yanga in the Charity Shield match last Wednesday,” he remarked. In Dodoma, Jerry Tegete scored the lone goal for Yanga in the 44th minute when he outclassed defender Noel Msakwa of Polisi Dodoma before beating goalie Kondo Salum. Yanga could have won with a larger margin if their players had been more accurate as the likes of Athumani Iddi wasted a lot of scoring chances.