When two East African club football giants went head to head in the CAF Champions League, a tight and very structured game was expected from both sides, the game was made more interesting with the Simba Coach Robertinho hosting his former employers. Vipers and Simba, who both boast of Brazilian tacticians, set out to get three crucial points in group C, with the fans in attendance at the Benjamin Mkapa stadium in Tanzania also expecting a bit of ‘Joga Bonito’ on display.In the previous encounter Simba had emerged victors with a narrow 1-0 win over the Ugandans at the St. Mary’s stadium Kitende in Entebbe, in a game that saw Simba spurn chances, with 5 good chances at goal the scoreline really flattered Vipers.A lot has been said about Vipers inability to score on the continental stage, the team had played, prior to this game, three games and had conceeded six goals with no reply in the group.They faced a herculean task against high flying Simba in Tanzania.In this piece we look at how Simba prioritized qualitative and numerical superiority to emerge victors.Simba Coach Robertinho set his side out with the main aim of fluidity and high chance creation, he was however very wary of the threat posed by Vipers on transition and his rest defence looked to settle this. His starting team consisted of Tanzanian international Aisha Manula in goal, he opted for the centre back pairing of Kenyan Joash Onyango and Congolese Henock Ibaka. On the fullback positions Shomari Kapombe and Mohammed Husseini were the starters as expected, with the Tanzanian fullbacks making the positions their own. Coach Robertinho opted for a midfield double pivot of Saido Kanoute and Mzamiru Yassin, with a very fluid attacking four of Pape Ousman Sakho, Burundian dangerman Saidi Ntibazonkiza,Clautous Chama and Moses Phiri.Vipers Coach Bianchi Betto set out in a flat 1-4-4-2 formation with emphasis on pace in behind to attack the Simba channels when the fullbacks attacked and a rigid structure to deny Simba any central penetration, to look to cover for his rather your defence which consisted of an average age of 23 years. In goal Alfred Muderekeza played with Issa Mubiru, Hillary Mukundani,Livingstine Mulondo and Ashiraf Mandela forming the back four. In midfield Osomha Omajondo and Siraje Sentamu played in the holding roles with Karim Watambala and Lumala Abdu on the flanks. Yunus Sentamu and Ibrahim Orit were asked with getting the elusibe goals.In this highly structured affair, the first half was like a boxing match with end to end action. Simba looked to have various variations in build up , they built up in a 1-3-1-6 shape, a 4-2-4 shape and a 1- 2-3-5 shape. With Vipers dropping off early Simba played mostly in the 1-3-1 build up shape with the centre backs splitting wide of the attackers and Saido Kanoute looked to create triangles by dropping between the centre backs or receiving the ball just ahead of them to push the team higher up. In this phase, one fullback, on the ball far side would remain lower while the other, majorly Kapombe Shumari would look to push up and provide width to stretch the Vipers backline.Sudanese club fined by CAF, team doctor suspended for misconduct##NAJAVA_MECA_7079960##Simba were finding it very hard to progress through the centre of the pitch in the early stages and this forced the likes of Cleotous Chama and Saidi Ntibazonkiza to drop deep and look to drag markers with them to create space between the lines. Simba looked to play the ball wide with very good combinations seen between Pape Sakho and Shumari Kapombe to get early crosses in and look to trouble the Vipers centre backs . Coach Robertinho however had an ace up his sleeve, his heavy rotations among the front four really caused problems for the inexperienced Vipers defence. The Simba front four caused havoc in the final third with Moses Phiri who was expected to lead the line dropping deep and causing uncertainty in the opposition defence. Simba looked to place bodies between the lines to combine well and the one two combinations between Saidi Ntibazonkiza and Chama were a joy to watch, as they created space for runners like Pape Sakho or Chama Cleutous in behind. With the qualitative superiority they had they looked to also take on their men 1v1 and beat their man. Simba in their 1-3-1-6 progression phaseSimba came with a very aggressive counterpress in losing the ball, looking to be very aggressive in midfield to stiffle the Vipers threat out wide and a resolute 1-4-4-2 midblock. Saido Kanoute and Mzamiru Yassin looked to be tasked with this and they stepped up well. Ths Simba goal came from winning the ball high and Moses Phiri having dropped off created space for Cletuous Chama who beat his man well in the box to nestle the ball in the right corner with a left footed shot .Vipers had done their homework on Simba, as Simba fullbacks advance a lot to add bodies in attack, they leave a lot of channels that can be exploited as the Simba centre backs are not the most comfortable defending runners in behind when turned. Vipers looked to do this with the pace and 1v1 threat of Lumala Abdu and Karim Watambala with the double strike partnership looking to alternate in dropping deep and having one runner off to attack the box on crosses. Vipers however had a tough time in the creation phase as Simba were very aggressive in the midfield looking to win all their duels and the 3-2 Sinba rest defence defended the transitions well, conceeding only 3 attempts on target. It was a game whete the two top tacticians set out to exploit the opponents weaknesses and Coach Robertinho’s gameplan of numerical superiorities between the lines to create possibilities of good combination play and the Simba players qualitative superiority won them the game and put them in a really good spot to qualify for the quarter finals.
