Caf Champions League: We must play Simba football against AS Vita Club – Da Rosa

Simba SC coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa has stated they will not play a defensive game when they take on AS Vita Club in their Caf Champions League fixture on Saturday.

The Msimbazi giants will host the Democratic Republic of the Congo outfit at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday seeking a draw to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in the club’s history.

Despite the team needing a draw, the French tactician has maintained his team will not play a defensive game as they did in the first meeting between the two sides which they won 1-0 away in Kinshasa, and that they will play the 'Simba style of football' to win the Group A fixture.

“The first match against AS Vita I asked my players to close the match, to be very solid and very consistent and play with a very compact block, defensive block to play counter-attacking, but this time even if we need a draw to qualify, we are at home and Simba at home must play the Simba football,” Da Rosa told Goal on Wednesday.

“It is very important to be very positive and so I think now because I am here for two months I think when I ask my players to play a positive game, very offensive game they are better, so for sure we will play to win the match.”

On whether his training for the clash was affected following the absence of key players who travelled to feature for their national teams in Afcon qualifying matches, Da Rosa said: “Since all our international players leave us we train with the youth team.

“It was very good and it helped us to identify the future of Simba. It is very important and they are able to work in good conditions so we have organized 11 against 11 and it was very good for us and our players to keep the rhythm and good condition.

“I don’t think their absence affected us, because I hope they were very well with their national team and so we found a very good solution with the youth team to organize a very good training session and then I am very happy about our work since yesterday.

“We work many times on physical sessions particularly last week with four or five very tough sessions physically and today [Wednesday] will be good to see them, Bernard [Morrison] was good, I think they are ready to play.”

After beating AS Vita, Simba returned home to beat Egyptian giants Al Ahly 1-0, then travelled to Sudan where they secured a 0-0 draw against Al Merrikh, then returned home to hammer the Sudanese side 3-0 in their last match.

Simba are currently on a good run in the competition as they have now played four matches and are yet to lose and are currently topping the group on 10 points, while African champions Al Ahly are second on four points, Vita Club are third on four and Sudanese outfit Al Merrikh are last with one point.