TZW
Simba needed to win by any margin to proceed into the next round of the tournament as they were held to a 2-2 draw at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam two weeks ago. Away goal advantage earned the Egyptian side a ticket to advance after a 2-2 aggregate score.
“We put it all in today’s (Saturday) match as we wanted to go deeper into the competition but could not manage to turn the chances we created into goals something which highly affected us to go through,” Bocco said.
Adding, Bocco revealed that this is not the end of the journey as they will put themselves together so that next time when they manage to qualify for the competition, they should do better.
“We will be a better side in the next year’s CAF Championship after learning much this season,” said the captain. The skipper also said the 2-2 draw his side recorded at home against Al Masry partly contributed much to the team’s failure to make it into the group stages while insisting that had they won the home match, they could have made it further. “I think the results of 2-2 we had at home against Al Masry partly contributed much to our misery as a barren draw in the return leg in Port Said didn’t help us.
We have seen what let us down, we will fix the problems and do better next year,” he said. Simba were required to win by at least single goal to enter into the group stage of the crucial competition. Generally, it was unwelcome outcome for Simba fans countrywide who wanted to see their team, which missed International matches for the past three years, doing better and perhaps win the prestigious trophy for the first time ever since its inception.
In his words, Simba Communications Officer Haji Manara said drawing with the best team in Africa like Al Masry at their own turf was not a simple thing at all, hence lauded the team for the spirited fight. “Our opponents (Al Masry) defeated Zambia’s Green Buffalo 4-0 during the preliminary round of the competition played at the same venue that is why I do not blame anybody for the final output because I saw the real fighting spirit from the players who fought hard to go through into the next stage,” Manara said.
Simba’s coach, Frenchman Pierre Lechantre decided to field five strong midfielders aimed at posing the threats to the host, that decision made his side not to concede a goal throughout the game. The introduction of Laudit Mavugo and Shiza Kichuya who came in to replace Yusuph Mlipili and James Kotei seemed to benefit Simba who started to possess the ball and create the chances in the dying minutes of the second half which in the end could not bring the anticipated results.
With the exit, Simba will now put all their focus on the Mainland Premier League in order for them to win the title this year and qualify for the CAF governed competitions next year or else, they will miss the opportunity to fly high the country’s colours in international tourneys.