Simba and Yanga on Kagame Castle Cup Final

Two arch rival but classic clubs of the Tanzania mainland Premier League Simba SC and Young Africans SC will clash in the finals of the Cecafa Kagame-Castle Club Championship at Dar es Salaam National Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Both teams will have their technical benches commanded by two equally skilled Ugandan coaches, Moses Basena (Simba) and Sam Timbe (Young Africans). Young Africans eliminated St George of Ethiopia in yet another dramatic semi-final match of this two week tournament on Friday.

A penalty shoot-out decided the finalist to face another Tanzania side, Simba, who scraped past El Mereikh on penalties in the other semi on Thursday afternoon.

A Simba verses Yanga dream final iswhat every fan in this soccer-mad country has been waiting for, and their passionate support of the two teams that splits the country almost equally, appeared to have driven the players towards the epic duel.

Although Simba and Yanga fought out the 1975 final played on Tanzania soil -- in the semi-autonomous isle of Zanzibar --one between the two arch rivals has never happened in Dar es Salaam during the tournament’s 36-year history.
The two teams again met in the finals in 1992 still in Zanzibar Islands. Both sides have won the derby once.

On Friday, it was St George, the losing finalists to APR of Rwanda last year, who seemed subdued. The Ethiopians, featuring the tournament’s highest scorer, Salhadin Said [six goals] and some precious imports from Uganda that include goalie Robert Odongokara, Sula Matovu, Isaac Isinde and Anthony Bongole, had earlier played better at every match while Yanga had shown some traces of frailty.

That turned all upside down as Yanga grew confident with every move. Both sides missed chances that would have produced goals in normal or extra-time which finished barren. Yanga then edged St George 5-4 in post- match penalties after Yanga captain Shadrack Nsajigwa had missed their opening kick, Salhadin Said fluffing St George’s second, before Antony Bongole failed with the sixth in the “sudden death” phase.

St.George will now play El- Mereikh in the classification match prior to the big do. The winner in the finals takes home U$30.000, the second placed team getsU$20.000 and the third best takes U$10.000 in prize money. Rwanda President Paul Kagame has for over a decade now been offering Cecafa the prize money to the tune of U$ 60.000 annually.


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