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Sloppy Simba irk Cirkovic

SIMBA SC coach, Milovan Cirkovic

SIMBA SC head coach, Serbian Milovan Cirkovic, has admitted to have been less satisfied with the performance of his squad, particularly the defence.

The Mainland soccer giants are currently preparing for the second round of the Mainland Premier League, which is expected to start on Saturday this week, and the preliminary round of the CAF  Confederation Cup penned for mid next month.

Simba managed a 1-1 draw with Tusker FC of Kenya in an international friendly match played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Sunday as the former stepped up preparations ahead of the domestic and continental assignments.

And Cirkovic said his side played below par against the Kenyans, as compared to the performance that the former showcased in the Mapinduzi Cup held in Zanzibar a fortnight ago. The Serbian was, in particular, critical of the displays shown by his side’s defence, singling out centre back Juma Nyoso as the player that was more erratic and insisted that he (Cirkovic) has to revamp the defence with just a couple of days remaining before the Mainland Premier League’s second round starts.

Cirkovic said he still has plenty of time to prepare his squad for the Confederation Cup’s preliminary round, in which Simba will meet Kiyovu SC of Rwanda. Tusker FC coach, Sammy Omollo, said his players outperformed Simba particularly in the midfield, adding that his team could have won the match had the strikers not been wasteful in front of goal.

Simba’s Rwandan midfielder, Patrick Mafisango, scored for his side from a spot kick before Tusker equalized through Patrick Kagogo.  Meanwhile, the international friendly match between Yanga and Tusker FC, which was expected to take place at the same venue on Monday, has been called off following reports that Yanga opted out of the game.

Yanga Information Officer, Louis Sendeu, confirmed the cancellation of the match but stopped short of revealing reasons behind his team’s decision to opt out of the match. He said Yanga has no plans to play any other friendly match and was focusing on preparing for the second round of the Mainland Premier League.

Sendeu said with the exception of Ghanaian keeper, Yaw Berko, who recently started light training after recovering from an injury, the team’s other players were in great shape. Yanga is currently in the second position in the premier league table with 27 points from 13 matches, just a point adrift of rivals, Simba, who leads the rest of the pack with 28 points from the same number of games played.

Yanga will play Moro United in the opening day of the second round at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, with three other matches taking place in other venues across the country the same day. Morogoro's Mtibwa Sugar, currently in the fifth position, will host fourth-placed JKT Oljoro of Arusha at the Manungu venue while Toto African of Mwanza will meet Ruvu Shooting Stars at the latter's venue in Mlandizi, Coast Region.