TZW
Although Young Africans’ opponents are new in these continental club soccer tournaments, but they need to be extremely careful as their counterparts knocked out, in this same tournament, Egyptian giants, Zamalek, by 4-3 on penalties! The Ethiopian club’s victory against Zamalek was considered by Egyptian soccer fans as very humiliating on account of being knocked out by a debutant club in the continental club tournament.
But having beaten the Egyptian giants who have won continental club soccer tournaments five times, the Ethiopians feel that their club should have gone straight to the Group stages of the tournament. According to Ethiopian English daily, The Herald, many Ethiopians did not expect Dicha to get where they eventually got, knocking out the Egyptians and in their own backyard in Cairo.
Dicha’s tale to the tape to where they are now, ready to face Young Africans, need to be taken very seriously if the Tanzanians need to get beyond where they are, having been knocked out by Botswana’s Township Rollers. The Ethiopians had travelled to the Egyptian capital armed with a 2-1 lead. However, the lead was wiped out by a two nil. But just when the Egyptian thought they were through, the Ethiopians replied and before the end of the match, the two side were 3-3.
That brought in the spot kicks which would see Zamalek out of the tournament, having failed to bear the pressure to win that had been exerted on their shoulders by their fans. This is the second time, in as many matches, that Zamalek lost through spot kicks in front of their fans. The first time was in 1996, when Young Africans’ arch soccer rivals, Simba under the tutelage of former Kenyan international, James Siang’a, knocked out the Egyptians through penalties after the two teams had drawn in Cairo.
The way the Ethiopians fought back away from home just goes to show the character of these debutant young men, hence the need for Young Africans to prepare well for them. Otherwise this could once again become the end of their participation in a tournament they were roped in after losing the more prestigious Champions League tournament.
Apparently, the main secret behind Dicha’s prowess in soccer lie in the fact that most of the players are made up of teenagers who had gone through soccer academy. And because of that, the team has not only a cracking pace, but they also don’t seem to be afflicted by problems that affect other teams, namely, lack of soccer basics.
In short, the Ethiopians have the ability to win at home and away from home as they showed the Egyptians in Addis Ababa and Cairo and that is a lesson that Young Africans need to keep at the back of their minds. But whatever level Young Africans get to, they need to start looking seriously at the kind of players they have most of whom do not have the quality of playing for continental soccer tournaments.
They need to start scouting for new players, mostly from soccer academies, at home and abroad, if they really want to continue to remain relevant as one of the country’s soccer giants. Otherwise they should simply forget about dictating terms both locally and internationally.
In fact, some of the things that clearly point to Yanga players’ aging is their recent loss against Vodacom Premier League new comers, Singida United. Singida United, currently under the tutelage of the Dutch tactician Hans Van der Pluijm, who had coached Yanga for years, beat them simply because the team had players who had more pace than Yanga players on account of being younger.
And talking about young players, nothing frustrates some of us about Yanga than the knowledge we have that this was one of Tanzania soccer clubs that had pioneered, in 1970s, the building of the first ever soccer academy, Yanga Kids. In fact, Yanga’s coaching goalkeeper, Juma Pondamali, is a product of Yanga Kids, a team that would dominate soccer for over two decades.
Other former Yanga Kids players had included Professor Benno Ndulu (former BoT Governor), Adolf Rishard, the late Gordian Mapango, Mohamed Mkweche and Mohamed Tostao just to mention a few. Young Africans management’s refusal to go back to those days by establishing Yanga Kids just baffles me.
Let us hope that repeated defeats both in local and international soccer tournaments would sooner than later teach them and others, including their arch soccer rivals, Simba, hard lessons on the importance of not only relying on players from soccer academies, but also in establishing such institutions.
Attilio Tagalile is a journalist/ author and media consultant based in Dar es Salaam and can be contacted through tagalileattilio@ yahoo.co.uk