Bernard Morrison of Yanga SC vs Simba SC.Yanga SC.

Mziba confident Yanga SC will be ready for Mwadui

Yanga SC team manager Abeid Mziba is confident his charges will be ready to play Mwadui FC in the Tanzania Mainland League once it resumes.

The 27-time league champions reported back to camp on Tuesday, May 26, and are giving their best before the top tier's restart.

Timu ya Mwananchi will be among the first teams to take their place on the pitch, and the official is optimistic of getting maximum points on June 13.

Article continues below

"I am encouraged with what the players have been doing since resuming last week," Mziba told Goal on Friday.

"The graph has been on a trajectory trend and I am confident we will be ready for Mwadui [on June 13]. Our aim remains winning the remaining 11 games, and it is achievable.

"We want to finish the league on a top note and get as many points as possible."

The Jangwani side played a friendly match on Thursday against Transit Camp and managed to get a 3-1 win. Bernard Morrison opened the scoring from the penalty spot a minute before the half-time break.

Feisal Salum doubled the advantage in the 53rd minute before Mrisho Ngasa sealed the win with 12 minutes to go.

"It was a good game, players showed their quality although it has been long since playing together," Mziba added.

"The signs are positive, the anticipation is good, it is a matter of upping our tempo in training sessions and we will be good to go."

Yanga will restart the league without their coach Luc Eymael. 

The Belgian relocated to his native country when the top-flight took a break in mid-March owing to the coronavirus pandemic, but with the league getting the green light to resume, Eymael is yet to step foot in Tanzania owing to travel issues.

While the club’s information officer Hassan Bumbuli told reporters on Friday that Eymael was expected back in the country on Sunday, the coach has vehemently denied the claims, saying he is still unsure when he will travel to Tanzania.

"There is nothing new, every day they are postponing the flight, every day they are coming up with excuses, yesterday [Thursday] they postponed the flight, now they say there are no flights and like I said before, there were flights every day from Brussels since May 31 departure from Brussels, but now they say there is no flight," Eymael told Goal on Friday.

"After that, I asked them I can book a flight to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Addis Ababa, then to Dar es Salaam, the coach of Azam FC was living in Romania and he travelled via Frankfurt to Ethiopia and he is now back in Tanzania.

"I am the only one not in Dar es Salaam for the start of the league and it is very embarrassing and annoying that this is happening."

Yanga have already confirmed assistant coach Boniface Mkwasa will handle the side until the Belgian coach arrives in Tanzania.

Advertisement