The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Majuto Omary And Doris Maliyaga
27 June 2011
Dar Es Salaam — Young Africans came from behind to take a 2-1 lead, but failed to protect it and drew 2-2 with El-Merreikh of Sudan in the Kagame Castle Cup at the National Stadium yesterday.
Young Africans, popularly known as Yanga, embarked on the Group B match briskly, pressing the Sudanese for an early goal, but things just went wrong in the second minute for the home team.
A counterattack initiated by El-Merreikh’s Karesh Osunwa bore fruit after Karim Eddafi unleashed a stupendous volley that gave Yanga shot-stopper Yaw Berko no chance.
Enjoying an electric atmosphere, the home team did not seem perturbed as they raided the Sudanese with a series of shockwaves, but Jerry Tegete fluffed his chances.Goalie Isam Elhadari was a man Tegete would not to meet in the future after denying him what could have been goals.
However, the Jangwani Street team’s efforts paid dividends in the sixth minute when El-Merreikh’s defender Musab Omari scored an own goal.Davies Mwape and Tegete combined well before the former released a thunderbolt that Omari connected past his advancing goalkeeper.
After the goal, Yanga, coached by Ugandan Sam Timbe, relaxed and displayed an enterprising game that left the Sudanese to chasing the shadows.
El-Merreikh survived another scare in the 20th minute when Rashid Gumbo and Mwape interchanged short passes before threading the ball to Tegete whose shot was deftly saved by Elhadari.
Two minutes later, Mwape put the ball through to Nurdin Bakari, but with only the goalkeeper to beat, the midfielder fired well over the crossbar.
The Sudan heavyweights then came into the picture again with only 15 minutes to the breather when Osunwa rounded off Berko, but failed to double the lead.
As the Sudanese mounted more pressure, Timbe decided to call off misfiring Tegete for the towering and muscular Ghanaian, Kenneth Asamoah, whose impact was noticed immediately.samoah, who receive a thundering ovation, doubled the lead in the 36th minute connecting Oscar Joshua’s cross.
In the second half, Yanga removed the foot off accelerator, leaving El-Merreikh to launch attacks almost at will and equalised though in Osunwa.
In Morogoro, the Kagame Cup reigning champions, APR of Rwanda, were too good for Ports of Djibouti after annihilating them 4-0.
The match started with the Djibouti side tormenting APR with their speed and looked on course to pull one of the biggest upsets.
However, their resilience was broken in the 44th minute when Nyirenda Victor headed home from a corner by Haruna Nuyonzima.
Nyirenda was on target again on the hour mark, planting home a superb goal. Logbo Didier made it 3-0 in the 69th minute following a goal melee while Kwizera Ernest wrapped up the score with three minutes to time.
Line Up:
Yanga: Yaw Berko, Godfrey Taita, Oscar Joshua, Chacha Marwa, Nadir Haroub, Nurdin Bakari, Julius Mrope, Rashid Gumbo, Davies Mwape, Jerry Tegete, Kigi Makasi.
El Mereikh: Isam Elhadari, Saeed Mustapha, Badr Eldin, Ahmed Albasha, Nasr Eldin, Musab Omer, Kelechi Osunwa, Balla Gabir, Wawa Pascal, Karim Eddaffi, Remi Adiko.
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