The Belgian coach speaks exclusively to Goal on the chances of winning title and what they want to achieve this season
Young Africans (Yanga SC) coach Luc Eymael believes it will not be easy for his side to beat rivals Simba SC to the Mainland Premier League title.
Simba have already opened a nine-point gap ahead of second-placed Azam FC in the 20-team table while Yanga are lying third, 13 points behind their bitter rivals.
Despite the league being at the halfway stage and Yanga having two matches in hand, the Belgian coach, who took over the team after leaving Black Leopards in South Africa, has told Goal he will be surprised if Yanga overtakes Simba and clinch the title.
“If we can win the league title? When I arrived in Tanzania, Simba had already picked up so many points in advance and were on a cruising mode,” Eymael told Goal.
“If we reached that challenge it is good, if we finish second on the log it will be very, very good…but for the first place and like it is the case now [in England], it would be a miracle for Yanga to achieve the fete.
“But we have to try and win our matches as much as we can to be as close as possible to Simba and Azam. I know we have two games in hand but it doesn’t mean automatically six points, these games have to be played and won.”
Yanga are preparing for their next match against Polisi Tanzania and the Belgian coach has raised concerns with the congested fixture which has seen teams in Tanzania play a match after every two days.
Tanzania are working round the clock to make sure the league concludes earlier enough so they can prepare their national team Taifa Stars for the 2020 African Nations Championship to be held in Cameroon.
Speaking on the fixture pile-up, Eymael told Goal. “My biggest problem is tactically I cannot teach them [players] a lot of new things because we don’t have time for training but have time to play matches.
“It is now a big marathon. Chan is starting on April 4 and that is why we are playing every three days…as is the case in the USA with NBA the only solution now is to make sure players adapt well, recover well, get good treatment, and rotating the squad. What can we do?”
On the team’s targets for the season, Eymael said: “What I am looking for now is to take one game at a time, and try to qualify the team for the Caf competition.”
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