Football fans in East Africa had one dream destination to land at during this holiday period; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, hosting two CAF Champions League Quarter Final matches:
- Simba Vs Al Ahly
- Young Africans Vs Mamelodi Sundowns
However, it wasn’t a Good Friday for the thousands of Simba SC fans who turned up at the SOLD OUT Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
Simba SC’s boss Abdelhak Benchika approached the 1st leg of the CAF Champions League quarter finals against Al Ahly without a recognized striker to lead his attack. He instead played Burundi international Saido Ntibazonkiza upfront with three midfielders of the same profile; Kanoute, Fabrice Ngoma and Babacar Sarr right behind him. This decision turned out to be costly especially in the first half where Simba struggled to create chances through the middle forcing their star player Clatous Chama to cut in from the left whenever he received the ball.
There were high spirits and hopes among the home fans minutes to kick off with loud vuvuzelas feeling the atmosphere. However, the whole situation changed five minutes after kickoff when Al Ahly’s midfielder Ahmed Nabil pounced on a lose ball that came from a mistake at the back caused by veteran defender Henock Inonga.
Simba’s best chance of the first half landed on Ntibazonkiza who failed to beat Al Ahly’s shot stopper Mostafa Shobeir. In an attempt to find an equalizer, the home side were the first ones to make a change right after the break; Benchika replacing Sadio Kanoute with 23 year old Onana. The Tanzanian giants dominated the second half of the game but failed to find the back of the net with Onana, Kibu Denis, Babacar Sarr all firing their attempts off target leaving the Simba faithful in the stands with broken hearts.
Anthony Modeste, who had quite a quiet night, was replaced in the second half by Kahraba who at the dying moments of the game almost scored a beautiful solo goal to double Al Ahly’s lead giving them well cushioned lead going into the second leg of the tie. Benchika will have himself and his attackers to blame as they were not clinical enough despite creating clear cut chances after 90 minutes.
Al Ahly’s boss, Marcel Koller, on the other hand is a happy man heading back home with an away win as both his tactics and his players’ time wasting antics played to their advantage at the final whistle.
