SIMBA FC GOES AT THE TOP!!

 

The match between Simba FC and Stand United FC was very competitive. Simba was struggling to go to the top position by any means. Before last Saturday Yanga FC was at the top with 43 points, one point ahead of Simba. On Saturday Yanga did not play any match in the league because it had an international duty in Mauritius to play against Cercle de Joachim FC. In the match against stand United FC, Simba won by 2-1. The 1st goal was scored on the 34th minute of the first half, while the second goal was netted in the 47th minute of the second half.

 

Simba as they celebrate in one of their matches.

Photo by:shaffihdauda.co.tz

 

 

Hamis Kiiza, the Ugandan international striker scored both goals. Azam FC was beaten in Tanga by Coastal Union FC by 1-0. That is to say Azam will remain with their 42 points, while Simba FC climbs to the top of the tables with 45 points. Yanga FC is the second on league tables with 43 points. The next game of Yanga FC will be against their arch-rivals Simba on next Saturday. Simba is at the top of league tables for the 1st time after about three seasons.

 

UKRAINIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (VIYSHCHA LIHA)

Ukraine Premier League Logo.

The Ukraine Premier League was officially launched in 1991 soon after the end of USSR. It started with few teams. The teams were taken from among the ones participated in the Soviet top league, Soviet first division as well as some
teams from Soviet second division.

Dynamo Kyiv is the club which has won most titles since 1992. The club has a total of 14 titles. The current title winners is Dynamo Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Premier League has a total of 14 teams. The most famous derby in Ukraine is the one which involve Dynamo Kyiv and Shaktar Donetsk. The derby became even more fierce in the decade of 2001 - 2010.

Something good with the Ukrainian Premier Lague is their rule of having three team categories. Each team must have their senior team, Under 21 team as well as Under 19 team. This is something of greater importance for the development
 of the clubs as well as their national teams. There is a good trend of creating young mostly homegrown players for future. Also each club must have its own stadium as well as a well maintained training center. Then it is a requirement for any premier league team to participate at least in 4 youth
competitions of age 14-17. What a prestigious plan?

                                      Metallist vs Dynamo Kiyv                                       
 
Shakhtar Donetsk is the 2nd team with many premier league titles. It has 9 titles.

After 1991 the 1st team to win the premier league title was Tavriya Simferopol. In the next season after Tavriya Simferopol won the title, the championship has been
dominated by the two teams only. No Zoria, no Metallist, not even Dnipro. There must be a challenge for this style. Try to imagine that Dynamo Kyiv has been a champion 9 times consecutively since 1992-1993 season before shaktar Donetsk won the tenth title to deny Dynamo Kyiv the La Decima title.

Olimpik vs Shaktar. Photo by: realestate.aol.com.

BRILLIANT DRC NATIONAL TEAM.

Congo DRC has won African Cup for local African players for the 2nd time in history. This cohesive team has added the second trophy after wining such trophy in the year 2009. But we can see the importance of having a very competitive internal league in a country. The teams like TP Mazembe, AS Vita, DC Motema Pembe are the strong foundation of this team. It was a wonderful game against Mali at the Amahoro Stadium in Rwanda. In 2009 Congo DRC played against Ghana in the final and Ghana was defeated by 2-0.

The Congolese tactician Florent Ibenge has become a true hero as
his technics left the Mali national team helpless after a 3-0 defeat. This double win of CHAN trophy has become like the AFCON trophies of the once called Zaire. Zaire won AFCON in 1968 and in 1974.

TANZANIA VODACOM PREMIER LEAGUE

 

1.  SIMBA SC. 1 KAGERA SUGAR 0.

 

Simba played in Shinyanga in a very tough game since the host team Kagera Sugar was playing confidently to secure a win. It was the youngster Ibrahim Ajibu who netted in the winner in the 45+ th minute. Ugandan international striker Hamis Kiiza hit a cross which was well finished by Ajibu. In the 1st half the match ended 1-0. In the 82nd minute, Ibrahimu Ajibu missed the penalty shot. At the end of 90 minutes the result was 1-0.

 

 

Simba players celebrating.

Photo by: bukobasports.com

 

 

 

2.  YANGA THRASHES JKT RUVU.

 

It was another entertaining match on both teams although the match was mostly one sided in terms of techical play and goals scored. Yanga got their first 2 goals in the first half. After missing so many chances Simon Msuva scored the opener in the 12th minute of the 1st half. Few minutes before half time, Issofou Boubacar scored the 2nd goal. The other two goals came in the 2nd half.

 

 

3.  AZAM WINS AT HOME.

 

Azam FC had another match played at their home ground of Chamazi Complex. The visiting team was Mwadui FC under the coach jamuhuri Kihwelu (Julio). The match was not that much easy and it took only 18 minutes before Azam scored their only goal. The goal scorer for Azam was the Ivorian International striker Kipre Tchetche.

Azam Players Celebrating

Photo by: presstz.net

 

 

 

 

 

LEICESTER CITY APPROACHING THE TROPHY.

It might happen just like other events on this world. Not so many people would predict Spain to win the World Cup in 2010. No one expected that The ancient Greece would come to an end. No body was predict a defeat of 7-1 when Germany outweighed Brazil in 2014. I hope very very few people predicted about Leicester City to be in top four. Do you believe that Man City was defeated at home 3-1 by Leicester City?

Last Saturday Leicester City FC showed us that money is not everything. You don't compromise team-work for expensive squad. The players of Leicester City are very cheap compared to Man City's squad. The team spirit of Leicester City is a complete learning package for most teams in the UK Premier League. Ettihad is not an easy place for most visitors. The courage  showed by Leicester City was marvelous indeed.

See all the goals here.

SIMON MSUVA - TOP SCORER IN TANZANIA

Simon Msuva. Photo by: www.sondablog.com

For about two seasons we have seen the top scorer who is not a native player. In 2012/2013 we had Kipre Tchetche from Ivory Coast as the top scorer. In 2013/2014 season we had another player called Amiss Tambwe from Burundi who scored a total of 19 goals in that season. In the current finished season we have a native player Simon Msuva as a top scorer. He has helped Yanga FC to win the trophy this season. 

This might be a revolution in Tanzanian football because we have a permanent problem of creative strikers who knows how to make things happen near or far from the goal. We have many native strikers who don't have desired skills in front of the goal.

Simon Msuva have assisted many goals for his team this season and he worked very hard in the right wing. He knows how to position himself in the penalty box and he can see where is another temmate so he can give a killer pass to him. His creativity made him go for trials in South Africa with one of PSL club Bidvest University FC.

We can expect many good goals in the next season from Him.

Msuva in between Ngassa on left and Niyonzima on the right hand side.
Photo by: www.goal.com

BARCA OUTWEIGHS PSG TO QUALIFY.

It was another time to play with PSG after a week in France. This time PSG enjoyed the presence of Zlatan and Verratti who missed the 1st leg in France. The game started with a lot of pressure from PSG to try to reach Barca's final 3rd, but Barcelona continued to deny them even a chance to make any shot on target for the whole period of 1st half. Imagine a possession of 45% against 55% of Barcelona, and this means that Barca still dominated a game more than PSG. 

At half time Barca had 4 shots on target while PSG did'nt have any. Neymar's goals in the 1st half marked a clean sheet of Barcelona and PSG was pushed out of UCL this season. The presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not rescue PSG. PSG will have to try the next time if at all they want to win the UCL trophy. 

But will Barcelona reach the final?

WILL BAYERN MUNICH GO THROUGH?

Tonight Bayern Munich will have to play a very hard game against FC Porto. FC Porto is not among the favourite teams to take UCL trophy but it is a very well organized team. They normally spend less on players and they shape them well to sell them to big teams after some years. The youth system at FC Porto is one of the best in Europe. Imagine the players like Quaresma and Martinez, without forgetting Yacine Brahimi all of them at their best level. 

The absence of Ribery and Robben marks a very difficult time at Bayern in general. thiago Alcantara is back after a very long time in injuries but he is not yet back to his highest performance. Thanks to the away goal which was scored by Alcantara, only to find that there is a huge mountain to level and qualify. Pep will have to solve this challenging homework this night if Bayern has to qualify.

FC Porto squad: Photo by: uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

FC Bayern Squad which played Porto. Photo By www.sportskeeda.com

Jackson Martinez rounds Neur to score

Quaresmaaaaaaa.....Goaaaaaaal. Photo by www.mirror.co.uk

Quaresmaaaaaaa.....Goaaaaaaal. Photo by www.mirror.co.uk

Can Guardiola push out Porto?

MAN U BEATS MAN CITY 4-2

Manchester United is on fire. The reds have seriously overwhelmed their rivals Man City for a total of 4 goals by 2. They have outweighed Man City in a very special way. No one could believe so easily that Man City was so struggling to contain the game at Old Trafford. Smalling was in his form during the game. Juan Mata continued to prove that he deserves to appear regularly in the squad. Yaya Toure did not manage the pressure brought by Man United mid-fielders. The combination of Ander Herrera, Valencia, Rooney, Mata and Young was very strong and ambitious. Eliaquim Mangala was just like a spectator without contributing anything useful for Man City. Chris Smalling finished a book of goals for the match to make it 4-2. Man City will soon struggle to remain in top four teams if they don't change their footballing style.

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR NIZAR KHALFAN.

Nizar Khalfan is currently a Yanga FC midfielder. He played with success in about last 7 years of his carrier. he started to be known when he played for Mtibwa Sugar FC. at times he was able to move outside Tanzania to look for more success and exposure. He has played in some teams in Kuwait before going to America where he joined the Canadian side Vancouver White Caps FC. After staying for some time(estimated to be less than 2 years) he returned home and joined Yanga FC. 

Nizar in Yanga jersey.

Being a very good player, he is facing a serious challenge of getting regular appearances in the team. At times he was facing serious and frequent injuries. He has been continuously being out of the 1st 18 players. He is just underutilized. With the presence of some new players life for him is not easy at Yanga FC. He should probably try to find another team where he can get time to play and show his talent.

Nizar when Yanga played Tusker FC from Kenya in Dec. 2012

Nizar for Taifa Stars when Tanzania played Morrocco

Nizar for Vancouver Whitecaps against Makubuya of Toronto FC.

Nizar vs Ballotelli

  

CAN LEVANTE RUN FROM RELEGATION?

Levante hosted Espanyol on April 17th, 2015. Being at their home ground the expectations were so high because they know how important it is for them to win. It was in the 18th position before the Friday game. After the match is over Levante has jumped into the 16th position. The match has just ended some few hours ago. To remain at that position Levante has to wait for other teams to play on saturday.

Lucas Vasquez scored an opener for Espanyol in the 18th minute. This could have created a lot of pressure for the hosts as well as frustrations. To make sure they come back into business Simao equalized after an assist from Nabil El Zhar. Again at  the end of the 1st half Espanyol added another goal to make it 2-1. Victor who came in to replace Nabil in the 74th minute, rescued Levante from loosing another match after he scored an equalizer in the 87th minute. Final result was 2-2.

THE CATALANS SHINE IN FRANCE.

Barcelona seems not to play their tiki-taka style as it happened to be during Guardiola's era. They have modified their footballing style. once they go to the half of the opponents, you can see some short passes mixed with some quick long passes. May be that is the reason PSG was not able to withstand the pressure from the catalans. 

An opener volley from Neymar marked a good start of their 3-1 victory. Suarez showed to us as to why Barca bought him from Liverpool.

HOW GHANA STUMBLED TO SENEGAL.

In their 1st match against Senegal, in January 19th 2015, Ghana seemed to play well only in the first half. In the second half Senegal looked more determine than Ghana. There was a mentality of remaining behind to wait for the Senegalese to come and attack them. This provided Senegal with Many options to penetrate the Ghanaian defence. The kind of football played by Ghana in the 2nd half was counter attack minded. It was a quiet different Ghana as compared to the other previous years squads.

Ghana-Senegal in action. Photo: www.fourfourtwo.com

Ghana normally play a possession football which is attack minded. Remaining behind to defend the 1-0 victory cost Ghana a lot. After many attacks Senegal equalized. Ghana was tempted to come in front to try to top up the score, but Senegal was very intact and played cautiously in their defence. At last the substitute player Sow, gave Senegal a winner in the last minutes. Surely Ghana will have to improve their footballing style to win the AFCON 2015.

YANGA FC SACKS COACH MAXIMO

More drama continues as usual. In the great Dar es Salaam derby, we have seen what our eyes can't believe. Do you chase out the coach of the team which is 2nd in league tables because of a defeat in a friendly match? May be this can happen in very few countries if not only Tanzania. Marcio Maximo was employed in June, 2014. For Yanga FC this time is enough for success. Yanga went down by 2-0 in this Dar es Salaam derby. It was actually a friendly match which has been used to strongly criticize the technical bench and judge that it is unworthy. 

In other places the coach can not be sacked because of a defeat in a friendly match. The team is still contending for the title, and the coach is just re-organizing the squad. More time was needed for this Brazilian tactician for better results. It could be better to judge him at the end of the season. How can you ripe success if you did not invest in a considerable length of time like 2 years or three? Drama, drama, drama in Tanzanian football.

 Yanga FC is in the 2nd position in the league tables just after Mtibwa Sugar. The fans seemed intolerant of the defeat in Saturday of 13th December. Different people have been criticizing the Brazilian players which were brought by the coach. It has been observed by the fans that the players are so normal and they don't have anything strange to bring in the team. They want a player with many qualities like Jay Jay Okocha.

Yanga(yellow) and Simba(red) fans in action

Sherman the new Yanga striker from Liberia

Elius Maguri in red as he scores for Simba.

MANCHESTER CITY ADVANCES TO LAST 16

Manchester City has managed to go through in the round of 16 after a hard work. The English Premier League champions were back in business after a wonderful goal from Sami Nasri. The game started and as the time went on AS Roma dominated the possession almost all the time of the game. The main problem of AS Roma was in the midfield. 

Their midfielders were continuously interrupted by Man City players who were very creative and disciplined in the middle of the ground. The Ivorian superstar for Roma Gervinho dribbled the ball very well for some time, but the Man City defenders were so keen to block him. AS Roma team seemed not to have an efficient plan B to penetrate the Man City defence. 

 AS Roma Killer Nasri

Photo by: www.bbc.co.uk

Francesco Totti as expected played very well but he was not getting good services from the AS Roma midfielders. It seems money can buy a good game for Man City. Their soccer was really entertaining. They have played in the alien soil but were confident enough to get a 2-0 victory. Sami Nasri played so eagerly for Man City. After scoring the 1st goal with a tremendous strike on the AS Roma goal, the Frenchman created a good goal with his clever pass, which was netted by Zabaleta. This means that Bayern Munich and Man City are through to the round of 16. Aguero and Yaya Toure did not play but we have seen the presence of good players like David Silva, Jovetic, Navas and Edin Dzeko.