The Harambee Stars defender reveals their main focus is on the league match and not the Caf battle against the Amakhosi
Simba SC defender Joash Onyango has stated they are currently not thinking about their Caf Champions League match against Kaizer Chiefs but are focused on their Mainland Premier League match against Yanga SC.
The Wekundu wa Msimbazi will host their Jangwani rivals in a top-of-the-table clash that will likely decide the destiny of the league title at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday.
However, the clash comes a few days after Simba were drawn to face Premier Soccer League giants Chiefs in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with the first leg meeting set for South Africa on May 14 and the return leg planned for Dar es Salaam’s Mkapa Stadium on May 21.
The former Gor Mahia defender has since stated they are currently not considering the Caf match but they have put all their energy into the Kariakoo derby against their bitter rivals.
“At the moment there is still a match ahead of us before meeting Kaizer Chiefs so our calculations will be on the next match in which we need to win,” Onyango said as quoted by the club’s official website.
“The main thing is to see us get positive results in the match we will play and we are confident we will do well, so the fans must continue to support us.”
During the first meeting between Tanzania’s two most successful clubs, Simba needed an 86th-minute goal from Onyango to snatch a late draw after Yanga had taken a deserved lead through a penalty converted by striker Michael Sarpong in the 25th minute.
It will also be the first derby for both coaches – Simba’s Didier Gomes Da Rosa, who joined the team on January 24 following the exit of Belgian Sven Vandenbroeck, and Yanga’s Nasreddine Nabi, who was appointed on April 23 after the club moved to sack Burundian Cedric Kaze owing to a series of unsatisfactory results.
Da Rosa has so far led Simba in 10 league matches without losing a single game, winning eight and drawing two – against Azam FC and Tanzania Prisons – both played at Mkapa Stadium.
On the continental scene, Da Rosa set a record with Simba after he guided them to the Champions League quarter-finals from a tough Group A, which also had African champions Al Ahly from Egypt, AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Al Merrikh of Sudan.
For Nabi, he has only been able to oversee one match since he took charge of the Jangwani giants – the 1-0 win against Tanzania Prisons in the domestic Cup – as he was not able to handle the team in the 1-0 league defeat against Azam FC owing to his paperwork which was not ready.
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