Teams to turn focus to Ligi Kuu after testing Federation Cup week

The league resumes with the country’s football giants still dominating the show. Simba are gallantly leading the chase with 35 points followed by Azam FC who have carved 30 points, while the defending champions, Young Africans are third with 28 points.

Not far behind are debutants Singida United who are fourth placed with 27 points together with Mtibwa in the fifth place.

The weekend fixture pits all sixteen Ligi Kuu Bara sides into eight venues to officially start the second round of the league. The going was tough for some of the league in the recent matches of the Federation Cup. Mwadui, Ruvu Shooting, Kagera Sugar followed Simba and Mbeya City as Federation Cup casualties and all must have learnt a good lesson from the setback.

The league defending champions, Yanga, who had a tough going against Ihefu in the Federation Cup, will remain in the Southern Highlands to face Lipuli FC at the Samora Stadium in Iringa. It won’t be an easy job for the Jangwani outfit as Lipuli forced them to 1-1 draw in their first round match at the Uhuru Stadium.

Also scheduled to play this weekend are Njombe Mji who will be testing Tanzania Prisons after both had tough matches in Federation Cup against Rhino Rangers and Burkina Faso from Morogoro.

After an easy ride in the Federation Cup, Azam will be back at the Azam Complex to host Ndanda FC and embark on their league title race campaign after losing 2-1 in their last first round game to Yanga.

The loss benefited Simba as it consolidated their pilot seat stay. In another development, Azam has extended its contract with the club’s upcoming striker, Paul Peter who was promoted from the youth team to the senior level.

He had been given a four-year contract. Simba who was eliminated by Green Warriors in the second round of the Federation Cup, will be in action on Sunday against Ruvu Shooting, who also have been knocked out of the Federation Cup. Ruvu Shooting will be looking for the revenge after the hefty 7-0 loss they suffered to Simba in the league opener.

Nine league teams have managed to cruise into the round of 16 and some of them had to do the donkey work against the First and Second Division teams.

The teams that advanced are Yanga, Tanzania Prisons, Njombe Mji and Singida United who faced hard time in their games.

Other Ligi Kuu sides who had made it to the next round of the FA Cup but had an easy task to grab their tickets for the round are Azam FC who had a 5-0 victory of Shupavu FC, Mtibwa Sugar earned a 2-1 win over Lindi’s Majimaji Rangers, Stand United won 2-0 against Pamba FC, Mbao FC and Majimaji FC who eliminated their Ligi Kuu fellows Ruvu Shooting after a 2-1 victory