The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
29 July 2011
The reigning Mainland champions, Young Africans, will begin a five-day pre-season tour of North Sudan on August 5 where they will play two friendies against El Hilal and El Merreikh.
As the Charity Shield showdown against bitter rivals Simba draws closer, the two warm-ups will serve as perfect tests for the Jangwani Street outfit.Yanga information officer Luis Sendeu disclosed to The Citizen on Saturday yesterday that they will tour North Sudan at the invitation of the Khartoum-based club, El Hilal.
“El Hilal have invited us for a friendly match in Khartoum and we hope that it will be a good test for our team ahead of the August 17 match against Simba.”Yanga will play El Hilal next Sunday before facing El Merreikh two days later,” said the Yanga official. The Sam Timbe boys clashed with El Merreikh during the Kagame Castle Cup group stage and fought to a 2-all draw.
Sendeu said that the team, which now trains at Coco Beach, would depart for Khartoum on Friday.
“The invitation has come at the right time, we will seize this opportunity to gauge our players ahead of both the Charity Shield match and Vodacom Premier League,” he added.
Yanga were to face cash-rich Azam FC today, but the match was cancelled at the eleventh hour. According to Sendeu, the team will leave with a contingent of 20 players and five officials.
In another development, Sendeu told reporters yesterday that Ugandan striker Hamisi Kiiza is due in Dar es Salaam today.The new signing, who sparkled during the recently ended Cecafa event, was in Uganda attending to his ailing wife.”It was difficult to contact him, but finally we’ve done it and he will join his team-mates immediately after touching down,” he said.
AllAfrica – All the Time