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Caf Champions League: Simba SC must not rely on Kaizer Chief’s troubles – Da Rosa
The French tactician reveals the Msimbazi giants are not focused on Amakhosi’s poor run in domestic league and will be ready for first meeting
Simba SC coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has stated they will not underrate Kaizer Chiefs when they face off in the first leg of their Caf Champions League quarter-final fixture on Saturday.
The Msimbazi giants are already in South Africa for their first-ever meeting against Amakhosi, who are currently in the middle an inconsistent run of results in the Premier Soccer League.
According to Da Rosa, despite the South African giants blowing hot and cold in their domestic campaign, Simba will not look at their home performances but will be prepared for a different team with a different style of play in the Champions League.
“If you look at their Champions League matches they are changing and playing differently from their domestic matches which is probably why they are here [in the quarter-finals], so we have seen what they can do in the league and in the Caf competition and we have worked out plans to deal with them,” Da Rosa told Goal.
“We don’t want to lose focus by relying on their mixed run of results and thinking we have an easy match ahead of us, we must be focused to do our job.
“All the teams in this tournament are strong and we give a lot of respect to Kaizer Chiefs but we are excited and we want to reach the top in this tournament and we are ready to play with them.
“It will be a tough match but we have had enough time to prepare, we need to focus on this match and I believe we are ready to go far in this tournament.”
Statistics show the FNB Stadium, which will be used for the match against Simba, has not been a good hunting ground for Chiefs as they have not been able to get positive results in the various competitive matches they have played there.
This season in the 25 PSL and Champions League matches played at the stadium, Chiefs have won just six times, drawing 11 and losing eight games.
Overall, in the last four league matches played home and away, they lost 1-0 against Chippa United, drew 2-2 against Bloemfontein Celtic, lost 2-1 against Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila, and managed a 1-1 draw against Maroka Swallows on Wednesday.
Simba will hope to maintain the solidity they showed in the group stage, where they only conceded two goals and kept four clean sheets as goalkeepers Aishi Manula and Beno Kakolanya were used between the sticks.
