Tanzania: Simba Tackle Etincelles Today

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Majuto Omary

30 June 2011

Simba must record a resounding victory over Etincelles of Rwanda today if they harbour any hopes of advancing in the Kagame Castle Cup.

The Moses Basena boys, placed third in the five-team Group A, revived their qualification hopes on Wednesday after downing plucky Zanzibar Ocean View 1-0 at the National Stadium.

The Ocean lads are relishing at the summit of the table with six points, two above Burundi’s Vital’O and Simba.

Today’s match might be easy for Simba considering Etincelles run-of-the-mill display in their matches. The Rwanda side are without a point in three games.

Mathematically, Etincelles can still qualify for the quarterfinal stage, but only if they win the two matches at hand while others lose.

In an early kickoff (2pm), Vital’O will be battling it out against Red Sea of Eritrea who woke up from slumber to crush Etincelles 4-1 on Wednesday.

Speaking about the match, Basena said his side could ill afford to lose today having tested their first Kagame Castle Cup victory on Wednesday.”We know that this is a must-win match,” said the Ugandan tactician, whose striking force looked dull against Ocean View, adding: “How we get the win, it doesn’t really matter.

“But we need a win if we want to have a good chance of sailing through to the next round. It’s very important that we start the game on a positive note, very aggressive and creating a lot of opportunities,” he said. “My strikers lost a host of clear-cut chances, but that can’t happen again for Simba want to survive and move on.

“This game, we have to start the way we did against Ocean View and dictate the pace from the first whistle, and try to be as precise as possible in front of the Etincelles goal,” he said.

The Red Sea-Vital’O encounter is also expected to be nerve shredding given the style of play both sides employ.

The Burundi and Eritrean teams have displayed some sublime passing game in their previous matches.

Only three teams will make it to the quarterfinal stage from Group A.

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