Wekundu wa Msimbazi will seal the title should they win during the rescheduled Kariakoo Derby on July 3
Simba SC head coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has stated he is confident of his team ahead of the Mainland Premier League game against Yanga SC.
Although the match has been scheduled for July 3, it is not clear whether it will be played as Yanga have remained adamant they will not honour the rescheduled fixture. The archrivals were to face off on May 8 but a disagreement over late changes to the kick-off time saw the game officially given a new date. A win in the game will see Wekundu wa Msimbazi seal the title race.
“I am not going to talk about the next match, but I have watched a few Yanga games, particularly the last one against Mwadui. I have my opinion, but they are a good team,” the coach told the media after the Mbeya City game on Tuesday. “They like talking a lot about Simba, but in the last three or four months, we have proven our point with consecutive wins, that we are a strong team and that we can develop a wonderful style of football.
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“I believe in my team, and we are competing to prove that we are the best, and we have proven that, but we must continue until the end of the season, despite the fact that we are in excellent shape.
“We are very satisfied because we have continued to win and it is very important because we now need one win to take the title, something that we have fought hard for the last two months. It is going to be like a final against Yanga in the next 10 days and so the win came at a time that is very important for us.”
The French tactician also explained why he has been tinkering with playing formations: “We decided to change the system a little bit as many know that we have used the 4-3-3 formation many times and the last game we played with a 4-2-2 style, but against Mbeya, I decided to employ a 3-5-2 formation,” he added.
“The change came as a result of our knowledge of Mbeya City strikers and I wanted to secure our deep midfield and the centre-backs. We could be more offensive in the formation, especially on the wings, and I am very pleased that things turned out in an interesting version.”
Although Da Rosa gave his players a vote of confidence, he was not particularly happy with how they played against Mbeya City.
“Against Mbeya, we were relaxed, especially in the second half, we lost a lot of balls to the opponents and we missed many chances. We are winning, but we need to be more vigorous, particularly when we are in the attacking area,” he concluded.
“We dropped too many balls, but we need to fix that, but I don’t want to blame my players.”
Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa passes a vote of confidence on Simba SC ahead of the Kariakoo Derby against rivals Yanga SC in July.
