An explosive CAF champions league first round clash is in the pipeline between two teams followed by a huge number of supporters in respective countries
After the preliminaries the first round of the premier club competition in Africa is set to take centre stage early next month in different venues .
In Dar es salaam’s 60,000 capacity Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium ,defending Tanzania league champions and 27 times winners Young Africans will make a date with Botswana’s Township Rollers in the first leg with the return leg 11 days later in Gaborone’s National Stadium .
Yanga as they are commonly known had an easier ride to the first round where they eliminated the less fancied Seychelles side St Louis 2-1 .Yanga won the first leg 1-0 in Dar es salaam but forced a 1-1 draw away in Victoria
Rollers also known as Popa or Tse Tala sent packing Sudanese giants Al Merreikh 4-2 on aggregate winning 3-0 in Gaborone and losing 2-1 away in Omdurman .
A massive results for Rollers who got eliminated last year at the same stage to Madagascar side CNAPS sports on away goal rule after a 4-4 aggregate .
Yanga on the other hand started off well in the Champions league before navigating to the group stage of the Confederations cup which is the second tier CAF cup competition . They eliminated Ngaya club before losing to Zanaco thereby dropping to the Confederation’s cup
Yanga have made 11 appearances in the CAF champions league with the best being 1998 where they reached the group stage and 2016 where they failed at the second round .In 1995 they reached the quarterfinals of the CAF winners cup .In 1998 their historic group stage qualification was coupled with an away win over Rwanda’s Rayon Sport before crushing out Ethiopia Coffee where they went on to finish last in Group B behind Asec Mimosas (Ivory Coast),Manning Rangers (S.Africa ) and Raja Cassablanca (Morocco)
Botswana giants Township Rollers (formerly Mighty Tigers ) formed in 1965 30 years after the existence of Yanga is the most successful club in Botswana history having won the BPL 14 times and a total of 14 cup competitions in their accolade .The team boasts of 8 sponsors and their best performance in the CAF competition was the round of 16 in Confederations cup where they were eliminated by Interclube of Angola .
How Rollers lined up against Al Merreikh in the CAF CL
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How Yanga lined up against St Louis in the CAF CL preliminariesIn 1985 they reached the first round of the CAF champions league where they were eliminated by AS Bilima.
They have featured in the champions league 4 times .
Both teams will be seeking to get to the lucrative money stage (Group stages) with Rollers proving their expertise away almost staging an upset in Sudan against a hostile environment .Yanga on the other hand have enough support at home to get the required win but their away form is worrying .
Township Rollers should take advantage of the tens of thousands of Simba fans who will in the unlikely scenario support them..The Simba fans supported TP Mazembe during last years Group stage match .
The blues have South African duo of Mthokozisi Msomi and Tshepo Matete with Ugandan Ivan Ntege making it three while the Jangwani boys have Zimbabwean Donald Ngoma and Thabani Kamusoko,Congolese Papy Tshishimba,Ivorian Youthe Rostand ,Zambian Obrey Chirwa and Burundian Amisi Tambwe .
Yanga danger man Ibrahim Ajib
Rollers Joel Mogorosi who is the star player
Player to watch ~ Township Rollers -Joel Mogorosi
~ Young Africans. – Ibrahim Ajib
