Simba SC will be hoping to claim a win as they visit Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday in their African Champions League quarter-final, first leg clash.
The Tanzanians will want to continue with fine form in the group stages after finishing as group winners with 13 points from six matches.
However, meeting a team that has nothing to lose at home will bring challenges as the East Africans will want to reach the semi-finals.
Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa led his troops to three wins in the group stages over Al Ahly, Al Merreikh and AS Vita.
Rosa knows they will face a difficult away leg, and wants his charges to be focused and not look at Chiefs performances in domestic 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,” said Da Rosa as quoted by Goal.Africa.
“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.”
Looking at the hosts, the South Africans will bank on their home ground advantage as they will want to book a spot in the next round.
Making their maiden appearance in the group stages, Chiefs reached the knockout stages of the tournament by luck.
The managed to qualify on the last match-day after edging Horoya AC of Guinea on head to head basis, having secured 2-2 draw against the West Africans in a Group C clash.
In their group stage campaign, they managed to claim two victories, three draws and one loss from their six matches and finished with nine points.
Chiefs’ dependable midfielder Dumsani Zuma has called upon his teammates to take advantage of the fact that they will be at home in the first leg of the quarterfinal tie.
“We can get a positive result,” says an optimistic Zuma. “We know it’s not going to be an easy game, but we have to take advantage of the fact that we are at home because it’s difficult playing away. We need to win with a big margin and that will make things a little easier for the second leg.”
The first leg encounter will be staged at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday at 18:00 (CAT).
