First of all, we have to show respect to them. Chiefs are not as easy as some may feel, they are a very strong side who play a high-intensity game and our first assignment is to ensure we lower the tempo.
Mnyama arrived in South Africa on Monday, five days ahead of the match. The former Taifa Star is impressed with the way the 21-time Tanzania Mainland League champions have been training and is hopeful of getting a favourable result ahead of the second leg at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam. Every player is in good shape, we have had several sessions and players are adapting considering the fact that it is very cold here, Matola continued.
A source with the team has, however, told
Goal the two have started to work on their visas and they will link up with the team soon in South Africa.
“It is true Pascal [Wawa] and Adel [Zrane] remained behind in Kenya because they had some small issues with their paperwork especially the visas but we left them behind to sort the problem,” the source told
Goal.
“I am confident it will be sorted out and they will link up with us here in Johannesburg, it is nothing big to worry about because their papers had issues and must be cleared for them to travel.”
Ahead of their first-leg meeting against the South African club at FNB Stadium on Saturday, Bocco has revealed Simba deserved to qualify because of their determination and the targets they had set for the season.
“I have a strong belief we did not reach the quarter-finals by luck but we reached the stage because of the hard work we did and because of our determination to do well in the competition,” Bocco told
Goal before the team boarded the plane for Johannesburg.
“When the season kicked off, the club had set their targets and for us is to make sure we reach those targets and we know with good preparations and teamwork we still have a good chance of going far in this competition, we are in a good position to do well.
Simba coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has acknowledged they have been given a tough draw but insisted their target is to win all the trophies on offer this season.
“If we want to win the FA Cup then we would say Dodoma is a good draw but until now we have to fight against Dodoma, firstly it is a tough team and even if we won against them two times this season, I know they are a tough team and it is not easy to win against Dodoma,” Gomes told Simba Online TV.
“If we qualify we play against Azam, a very good team and you can see their last performance against Yanga they won 1-0, it is a tough draw but we want to win everything, every cup this year, it is very important to be champions of the league and to win the FA Cup, it is the best time to show Tanzanians that Simba is the best team in the country, so we are very ambitious.”
The Tanzanian champions will travel south for the first leg tie that is expected to be played between May 14 and 15 before the second leg encounter to be hosted between May 21 and 22.
Simba had an impressive run in the group stages and topped a tough pool that included African champions Al Ahly, AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Al Merrikh of Sudan.
They finished the group engagements with four wins, one defeat, and a draw and topped the pool with 13 points; two more than the reigning champions, the Red Devils.
Simba will hope to maintain the solidity they showed in the group stages where they only conceded two goals and kept four clean sheets as goalkeepers Aishi Manula and Beno Kakolanya were used between the sticks.