Azam FC raid rivals Simba SC for assistant coach Matola

Azam FC have agreed on terms with Simba SC assistant coach Selamani Matola and he is expected to join the team ahead of the new season.

The ‘Ice Cream Makers’ have been linked with the former Taifa Stars player for many seasons and it has now emerged that they have acquired his services ahead of the new season.

Matola joined Simba from Polisi Tanzania at the start of the current campaign and has been work under Belgian coach Sven Vandenbroeck.

Goal now understands Matola was picked from a pool of other assistant coaches who had submitted their CVs for the job, which also includes Kagera Sugar head coach Mecky Maxime.

“It is true that Matola will cross over from Yanga to handle Azam on the same capacity,” the source, who did not want to be named, revealed to Goal.

“Matola was among the coaches Azam officials were looking at and he has been picked ahead of Maxime, Azam are keen to build a strong technical bench as they want to challenge for titles in the coming season.”

Azam are currently under the tutelage of Romanian coach Aristica Cioaba and are now fighting to finish the season in the second position after missing out on the title and also losing to Simba SC in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Cioaba has maintained they have what it takes to win all three remaining matches and finish second ahead of Young Africans (Yanga SC) on the 20-team log.

“I know we lost against Mtibwa Sugar and it was a huge setback because it gave Yanga the chance to move second again but we still have three matches before we end the season,” Cioaba told reporters.

“It is a tight race now, Yanga are also fighting to finish second but we will not give in easily, we will fight to the end, three matches are enough to take us back to the second spot because you never know, in football, even Yanga can lose their remaining matches.

“I want my players to forget about the defeat to Mtibwa, it was not a good one, we dominated the match but ended up losing, we must now put our energy and win the remaining matches.”

Azam will next face Lipuli FC on Sunday while Yanga will come up against Mwadui FC on Saturday as the race for the second spot hots up.