The French tactician reveals why the Msimbazi giants travelled earlier than usual for their first-ever meeting with Amakhosi
Simba SC coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has explained he decided to send the team to South Africa earlier than usual for their match against Kaizer Chiefs so as to deal with the current cold weather in the country.
The Msimbazi giants will face Amakhosi in the first leg of their Caf Champions League quarter-finals fixture at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg with the return leg planned for Dar es Salaam on May 22 at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
The French tactician has said the team arrived in South Africa on Tuesday because the climate in South Africa is cooler than Tanzania, so he believes by the day of the game his players will be used to the situation.
Simba arrived from Dar es Salaam where the temperature was 29C degrees, the wind blowing at 19 km per hour and humidity is 59% while in Johannesburg the temperature is 16 degrees, the wind blows at four km per hour and the humidity is 42%.
Johannesburg is also at high altitute, 1,753m above sea level, while Dar es Salaam is by the cost, some 50m above sea level.
“We came early enough for the players to acclimatise because of the cold weather and often at a stage like this, some teams tend to play with skills and also try to change the style as the game progresses but we have planned well to come up against Chiefs,” Da Rosa told Sokalabongo.
“We will play with respect for the opponents, more defensive and we will make surprise attacks and I believe this can help us as we did in DR Congo when we played against AS Vita Club and won.
“We should not underestimate our opponents as they are the best team and they did not qualify for the quarter-finals by a fluke but we are preparing our tactics to be better than them so that we can get the result we want.
“Since we got here everything is going well, all my players are in good condition but we are working on what we need to go and fight for 90 minutes.”
As for the team coordinator, Abbas Ally, the team has been training well for the fixture and all 25 players in camp are ready for the game without injuries.
“The team is safe, everything is going well, there are no problems of any kind we have encountered since we arrived in South Africa, even our players are fit and safe for the game so we can get a positive result,” Ally told the same portal.
Abbas revealed coach Gomes had set a practice session where they train once a day starting at noon, to go according to the scheduled time for the match.
“Even the practice we do at 12 pm is the same as 1 pm in Tanzania, the goal is to match the time when the match will be played, we are fine we need a good result and we are confident we will do well even though we respect our opponents.”
Simba reached the last eight of the competition after topping Group A which also had African champions Al Ahly of Egypt.
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