To set the tone for the 2016/17 UCL season, defending champions Young Africans take on JKT Ruvu as they look to top of the table for the first time this season. A win against the army wardens will see George Lwandamina’s new charges Young Africans leapfrog current leaders and arch-rivals Simba onto top position.
The two giants find themselves separated by two points after 15 first round matches and Yanga will cherish their chance to go ahead of their old foes as the title race enters the crucial phase. However, should Yanga surge on top as expected, their leadership could last for 24 hours only. Simba, thus, would recapture the driver’s seat with a win at Ndanda FC tomorrow.
The road to the league title will definitely be one with a lot of twists and turns as nobody expect the top guns, Simba, Yanga and Azam FC to have it easy as they fight for the coveted domestic prize.
New Yanga coach, Zambian Lwandamina ¸ who replaced Hans Van der Pluijm after 15-first round matches, will be keen to get his career in the Tanzania top flight league to the best possible start by securing maximum points against JKT Ruvu.
Lwandamina has added only two players during the minitransfer window that closed on Thursday night. He has roped in striker Emmanuel Martin from Zanzibar’s JKU and holding midfielder Justine Zullu from Zesco.
But the Zambian trainer has inherited a strong squad and should approach the final lap confidently, knowing he has a group of champions. He takes a team that has won two league titles in a row. JKT Ruvu go into the second round in a rather precarious state.
They sit third bottom and another defeat would complicate their survival bid. Three more games are on menu on the same day; Mbeya City play host to Kagera Sugar, Mtibwa Sugar visiting Ruvu Shooting while Mwadui are at home against Toto Africans.
Kinnah Phiri’s Mbeya City were the busiest team during the mini-transfer window after completing five transfers, all of them experienced players--an ambitious move by the Malawian trainer, who wants his side to challenge for top positions.
The Mbeya-based outfit have signed former Young Africans and Free State winger Mrisho Ngasa, Zimbabwe’s Caps United striker Leonard ‘Aghahowa’ Tsipa and Ugandans trio of Tito Okello, Hood Mayanja and William Otong who featured for African Lyon in the league’s first round.
Match-day six continues tomorrow with Joseph Omog’s titlechasing Simba side taking a long trip to Mtwara’s Ndanda FC. The Reds have bolstered their ranks with four additions, including Ghanaian duo; goalkeeper Daniel Agyei and midfielder James Kotei, Pastory Athanas from Stand United as well as Zambia’s Zesco striker and former Taifa Stars player, Juma Luizio on loan.
Omog is well positioned to win his second Premier League, having won his maiden with Azam three years ago, but the Cameroonian must arrest his side’s slump at the closing of first round, when they lost their last two games.
One-time Premier League winners Azam FC will be expecting to rediscover their form after experiencing a dip in form during the previous round. They kick off their second round against African Lyon, the same team they faced in the opening match of the season.
The Ice-Cream makers needed an injury time John Bocco’s strike to rescue a point against Lyon as they battled to a 1-1 draw.
Elsewhere, Mbao FC will be up against Stand United, while Tanzania Prisons will square up against Majimaji FC.
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