Young Africans (Yanga SC) have suffered a blow as their defender Kelvin Yondani will not be involved when they take on Pyramids FC in the return leg of the Caf Confederation Cup.
The Tanzanian giants are already facing a mountain to climb after they lost the first leg played at CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza 2-1 on Sunday.
Yondani was given his marching orders against the Egyptian side after a tackle on a Pyramids striker and will thus miss the return leg set for Cairo on Sunday.
Yanga coach Mwinyi Zahera was left a fuming man after his side failed to utilise the home ground advantage.
“We gave them [Pyramids] too much room to play around the ball and we were finally punished,” Zahera told reporters after the match. “In fact, they created two serious chances and scored from the two chances.”
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Yanga captain Papy Tshishimbi grabbed a late goal for the side but it was the visitors who had taken the lead twice courtesy of Traore Erick and Abdallah Saed.
Zahera has admitted his side will be facing a tall order to overturn the result and reach the group stage of the competition in the return leg.
“It will not be easy now that we gave them two away goals, but in football, anything can happen,” Zahera continued.
“We can go there and get the goals and a win, we have always played well away from home and we will bank on the form when we travel to Egypt. We are not done yet, we will give our best and I know anything can happen.”
Pyramids coach Sebastien Desabre was elated with the team’s fighting spirit which handed them the win and two goals.
“We have two goals going into the return leg and I am sure playing at home will give us the advantage to finish the job,” Desabre told reporters.
“[Yanga] is a good team, they played well and we must be very cautious when they come home. We will be ready to finish the job.”