The champions of Mainland Tanzania, Yanga have 180 minutes to decide their fate in the group stage of the CAF Champions League, facing a game against Al Merrikh of Sudan
The first leg will be played on September 16th in Rwanda and the second leg will be played in Dar es Salaam between September 28-30 at Azam Complex
It is 180 minutes of sweat and blood for the Citizens to ensure that they end the drought of not playing in the Champions League groups for more than 20 years
In addition, it is 180 minutes of revenge against Al Merrikh where in all the knockout matches, Yanga has never taken them out
Statistics show that the teams met in the knockout stages of the Champions League in 1973, Al Merrikh winning 2-1 in the game played in Tanzania and a 1-1 draw in the second leg played in Sudan
In the six tournament matches that the team has met, four matches ended in a draw while Al Merrikh won two matches
Yanga will be looking for its first victory against the giants of football from Sudan
Obviously it will not be an easy game and Yanga will be more profitable as Al Merrikh will not play their home game in Sudan
Due to the ongoing unrest in Sudan, Al Merrikh used the Pele Stadium, Kigali in their preliminary game
Efforts to transfer the match against Yanga to Morocco hit a rock and thus Al Merrikh had to stay in Rwanda
With the circumstances facing Al Merrikh, it is clear that Yanga has every reason to get a winning result and advance to the group stage
Yanga continues preparations under coach Miguel Gamondi as the squad is expected to travel to Rwanda on Thursday, September 14
