The team’s captain, Haroub was given marching orders in the 80th minute leaving his side battling for survival with a man down in a game marred by violence and biased umpiring, which Yanga vehemently complained against as very unfair.
Yanga claim that the match referee Hamada el Moussa Nampiandraza from Madagascar looked to favour the hosts Sagrada Esperanca in a match held on Wednesday in remote province of Dundo. Yanga sailed to the group stage of the Confederation Cup after stamping a 2-1 aggregate win.
They won 2-0 in Dar es Salaam before a 0-1 loss in Angola. Speaking at the club’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the club’s Head of Information and Communication, Jerry Muro told reporters that the club planned to appeal against the red card to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) claiming the marching order was wrongful dismissal.
Muro said the red card means the captain will serve a threematch ban if not withdrawn.
He added that the dismissal was unfair and wrongly flashed by the referee who seemed to favour the hosts. Apart from seeking the rescind of the ban, Yanga has also declared they will not be ready to see the same referee officiating any of their matches at the group stage and they are planning to write to CAF requesting the body to remove him from the referees’ list.
“We were deeply hurt by the poor officiating in our return leg match in Lunda, Norte, Angola and also the condition of the game held at Estadio Sagrada Esperanca witnessed violence and hooliganism against our team. Therefore, we are going to file our complaints to CAF,” added Muro.
He, furthermore, commended the technical bench and the players for the bravery that helped the team to play in the last eight stage of the continental tournament, which was the target set by the club when it started its campaign.
According to Muro, Yanga squad which left Angola yesterday via South Africa are scheduled to jet in Dar es Salaam around 2pm today. After their arrival, Muro said the team will go straight into the camp for preparations of the final round of Vodacom Premier League (VPL) against Majimaji in Songea on Sunday.
“We urge all supporters and fans to be either at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) or alongside Nyerere Road to give their team a heroic welcome since they deserve it for flying high the country’s flag in the continental tournament,” said Muro.
Wednesday night was an exciting night in CAF Confederations Cup matches for Yanga, Etoile Sahel, Medeama SC, Al Ahly Tripoli, Kawkab de Marrakech and FUS Rabat which cruised into the last eight of the competition.
Other teams which have cruised into the group stage are TP Mazembe and Mouloudia Bejaia from DR Congo and Algeria respectively. The last eight teams will now be drawn into two groups of four with the top two from each group going into the semi-finals. The group stage is set to kick off on June 17 after the group’s draw which is scheduled to take place on May 24.
Meanwhile, Yanga, who are the Premier League champions for the second consecutive year, have requested Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to postpone the FA Cup final whose kick off is on May 25.
Yanga is scheduled to play Azam FC in the FA Cup final at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, the date which Yanga claim to be too punitive for them. Muro disclosed that their team might face fatigue due to the tight fixture as they played in Angola on Wednesday and will not have time to rest after their arrival today from Angola and travel to Songea tomorrow to play Majimaji on Sunday. On Monday, according to Muro, Yanga will travel back to Dar es Salaam, with FA Cup 14 hours away.
“The fixture is not friendly to us and we appeal to TFF to consider our request to push forward the final so as to give us time to rest after engaging in a tight fixture involving both local and continental assignments,” complained Muro.
FA Cup winner will represent the country in next year’s CAF Confederation Cup, however, Yanga had already grabbed the ticket for the next season CAF Champions League, so Azam has automatically won the ticket for the Confederation Cup even if they lose the finals.
