Caf Champions League: How Simba SC have been motivated to beat AS Vita Club – Gonzalez

Simba SC official Barbara Gonzalez has explained how they have prepared the team to take on AS Vita Club in their first group stage match of the Caf Champions League season.

The Wekundu wa Msimbazi will come up against the Democratic Republic of the Congo opponent at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa seeking to open their campaign on a winning note.

The club’s CEO, Gonzalez, has now revealed how they have motivated the players heading into the fixture and asked Tanzanians back home to rally behind the team as a win for the team is a victory for the whole country.

“From our end, we have planned ourselves very well, you know my work is to make sure the technical bench gets the best so they can give us good results,” Gonzalez told Simba Online from Kinshasa.

“We have started with encouraging the players to get ready for the match, we have given them good bonuses, we have done it already and I don’t want to reveal the amount of money each player received, but we have boosted their confidence with bonuses.

“We have also prepared them psychologically to understand their opponents by giving them all they needed, we have secured videos of our opponents playing in their last five matches and the technical bench has been using the same to analyse them and it means from our side we have done our job.

“We have given the technical bench all they needed so they can make Tanzanians proud on Friday.”

On what message she has for Tanzanians back home ahead of the match, Gonzalez said: “I want them to put us in their prayers, our players need good words so as they can gain enough confidence and courage to enter the pitch and we urge them to watch the game live on Azam TV and rally behind the team.

“We are representing Tanzania and I ask even our rivals to support the team, a win for Simba is a win for the whole Tanzania, and I hope they will listen to my word and support us.”

On his part, Simba team manager Abbas Ally assured they had done enough to get a win and also confirmed there were no injury worries from the 27-man squad who travelled to Congo.

“We have been received very well here in Congo, and we have had two great training sessions and as you can see behind me, the players are still working hard,” Ally told Simba Online.

“What is remaining now is for the technical bench to pick the first eleven, we don’t have any injuries as all players are fit and good to play, we are ready to play and we ask Tanzanians to rally behind the team, let them play for us and we know we will come with a win.”