By Austin Oduor Otieno In Dar es Salaam,

The roads leading to the Municipality of Temeke will be a bee hive of activities with tens of thousands of fans head ding to the National Stadium for the epic clash between two Dar es Salaam based clubs Azam and Yana.

Two Tanzanian clubs come face to face today in the third quarterfinal match of the ongoing Cecafa Kagome Cup.

It will be a tough quarterfinal match today at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam when Tanzanian giants and five times Kagome cup champions Young Africans clash with Tanzanian big spending club Azam FC.

This will Be repeat of 2012 Cecafa Kagome Cup finals where Azam lost 2-0 and it is clear Azam wants to revenge the loss.
Sainteif helped Yana win the 2012 edition in Dar with the likes of Ally Mustapha,Stephano Masyika,Oscar Joshua,Nadiir Haroub,Kelvin Yondani,Athumani Iddi,Rashid Gumbo,Haruna Niyonzima,Said Bahanuzi,Hamis Kiiza and David Luhende..Five of the players that won the 2012 tourment will feature in Today’s clash.

On Azam’s part, they will have six players that graced the 2012final losing to Yanga.They include Erasto Nyoni,John Bocco, Said Morad,Aggrey Morris,Salum Abubakar and Kipre Tchetche.

Soka25east takes a look at some of the players who will feature, their pairings and possible opposition.

Pascal Wawa vs. Donald Ngoma

Wawa is an Ivorian who is a central defender and has been very instrumental for the ice cream makers ensuring they haven’t conceded so far.he was signed last season and he is intelligence and strong physically.On the other side Zimbabwean Ngoma who started the campaign on a low with a straight red card in their opening match against Gor is one of the players Yana will rely on for goals upfront. The striker is tall and fast just like Gor Mahia’s Olunga

Nadir Haroub (Cannavaro) vs John Bocco.

Another eminent fight will be between the captains of both side Yanga’s Nadir Haroub and Azam’s John Bochco.They would want to command the team considering this is a highly explosive match.Haroub is an overlapping central full back who frequently scores from his head and is good in taking penalties.His miss against Gor was his first in 40 penalties he had taken.Bochco is good in aerial balls too and is the clubs all time scorer .

Haruna Niyonzima(Fabregas) vs Jean Baptiste Mugiraneza(Migi)

The two midfielders are expected to provide a rare show of might when the two sides meet today.Both players were from APR and they form the same midfield combination for the .Rwandese National team, the Amavubi.
The two players know each other and it will be both physical and tactical for the two players.Migi plays as a holding midfielder who at times overlap but coach Stewart Hall has proffered using him as a defender in most matches.
Niyonzima has been the darling of Yana fans with his pace and goal scoring prowess, he has a high ability to hold the ball and for long before he came, the club was deficient in the area.Migi is tall, an advantage he has over Niyonzima but the latter is more composed and intelligent in his moves.The ultimate answer will be after 90 minutes today.

Slum Abubakar(Sure Boy) vs. Deus Kaseke

Another midfield battle will see Azam’s Salum Abubakar aka Sure boy face of with Yana’s Deus Kaseke.Sure boy is Azam’s dependable midfielder known for his accurate passes, if he is missing, his sturdy Ivorian Kipre Tchetche fits well in his shoes because of their same kind of play.Azam has several midfielders including Frank Domayo,Mudathir Yahya,Migi and experienced Erasto Nona.Coach Stewart Hall often use three of them, reason why the Chamazi boys cause more problems to teams.
On Yanga’s part they have Deus Kaseke who was signed from Mbeya City, the player has so far been good in the ongoing cecafa kagamw cup, he began playing in the top Tanzanian tier, the Vodacom league at the age of 19 and he has been growing day by day.At 21 now he has played a total of 51 league matches and scored 8 for his former club Mbeya City.

Ally Mustapha . Vs Aisha Manula.

The Yanga keeper has so far had his best and worst form in this cecafa tournament conceding two goals in the opening match, however they haven’t conceded yet again beating Telecom 3-0,KMKM 2-0 and Al Khartoum 1-0. He also holds a record for not conceding a goal for six consecutive games in last season’s Vodacom premier league.He only conceded a goal for Azam in this years Mapinduzi cup and he his proffered ahead of Dida,he was also charismatic at goal in the confederation cup where they edged both Zimbabwean and Seychelles opposition going down to Etoile du Sahel.
On their part Azam have Aisha Manula who is equally good and has kept a clean sheet in the cecafa tournament so far, the two keepers would be at their finest and would be eyeing the starting role for Taifa Stars.

Van Pluijm. Vs. Stewart Hall

They have never met at such a big stage and a big tournament like this.To them thisbisva derby and both are so eager to progress to the semi finals.
Hall has however had a chance to reach the finals of this tournament with Azam in 2012 when they lost 2-0 to Yana who were under Saintfiet.

Both coaches have clearly read each others tactics and it will be too close to predict the outcome.the more tactful coach will carry the day.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com