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Caf Champions League: Why AS Vita Club must beat Simba SC away – Ibenge
The Congolese tactician reveals his team must win their two remaining Group A fixtures to progress in the competition
AS Vita Club coach Florent Ibenge has said in order for the team to advance to the quarter-finals of the Caf Champions League they need to emerge victorious in their remaining two matches, including the one against Simba SC of Tanzania.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo outfit will next face the Msimbazi giants in their fifth match of Group A and are placed third on the table with four points from four matches.
On the other hand, Simba are sitting top of the group with ten points from four matches while Al Ahly of Egypt are second on seven points from four outings.
Ibenge has rallied his players to make sure they win the two remaining matches starting with Simba, whom they will face at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, knowing very well the home team is yet to lose a match on their home ground.
“We need to win both of our remaining games against Simba and Al Merrikh of Sudan in order to advance to the quarter-finals,” Ibenge said as quoted by Sokalabongo.
“The results we have achieved have not been very good for us, but this is not the time to blame each other, all we have to do is make sure we move forward by winning the remaining matches.”
The match against Simba will be played on April 2 with their final match against Al Merrikh lined up for April 9 in Kinshasa.
Ibenge’s sentiments come just a day after Simba coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa explained his main target with the team in the Caf competition is to make sure they reach the semi-finals.
“Getting the team to that stage [semi-finals] is very possible thanks to the cooperation I get from the leaders, my assistants, and the players who are thirsty for success,” Gomes said on Saturday.
“If you look we are leading the group standings and we have two games left - one we will play at home against AS Vita and the other one away against Al Ahly, if we do well we can obviously finish at the top in the group stage.”
Simba are unbeaten in their group stage campaign and are yet to concede a goal, winning their first match away to AS Vita in Kinshasa 1-0 before returning home to stun Al Ahly 1-0 and then, travelled to face Al Merrikh in Sudan where they secured a 0-0 draw before returning home to hammer Al Merrikh 3-0.
