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Dar es Salaam. One of Tanzania’s football giants, Simba SC, are departing today for Cairo, Egypt, ahead of the quarter-final return leg of the CAF Champions League against Al Ahly this Friday.
The encounter, to kick off at 11pm East African time, has been scheduled to take place at the Cairo International Stadium.
However, the team will be without their famous goalkeeper, Aishi Manula, who is nursing an injury picked up during the national football team (Taifa Stars)’s Fifa Series encounter against Bulgaria in Azerbaijan.
Simba Information Officer Ahmed Ally said Manula did not attend the team’s training ahead of the encounter as he is yet to recover.
“Only Manula is sidelined for the encounter as we are talking about the players recruited for the international competition. If others are there, then they will be announced after our last training session,” said Ally.
The team’s contingent departs by an Egyptair plane ahead of the crucial match that will determine their participation in the competition.
In their first leg held last Friday at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Simba lost 1-0 to the defending champions Al Ahly of Egypt.
The result means Simba will have to record a 2-0 victory over the Egyptians at the Cairo International Stadium to secure a spot in the competition’s semifinals.
If Simba win 1-0, then the match will be decided on penalty shootouts.
Meanwhile. Simba’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Salim “Try Again” Abdallah, urged his players not to dwell on the past results and instead they should focus on their upcoming match in Cairo.
Abdallah expressed his confidence in the players of the team to overturn the score and qualify for the semifinals.
“Let’s put the previous results behind us and focus on our next match. We must turn the tables on them in their own backyard,” said the club’s board chairman, Abdallah.
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