Mainland soccer giants Simba Sports Club maintained
their dominance over their archrivals Young Africans (Yanga) off the
pitch in the ‘Nani Mtani Jembe 2’ match after the former scooped the
prize money set for fans.
Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL), which sponsors the two teams through Kilimanjaro Premium Lager brand, organized the game.
Simba cruised to a 2-0 win over Yanga in the match played at the
National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday to walk away with 15m/-
reserved for the winning team.
Simba also won 77,590,000/- in a special campaign that had the two
teams’ fans contribute for their respective sides through sms. Yanga’s
fans took 2,410,000/-.
A total of 100m/- was set aside for the match, with the two squads
battling for 20m/- and fans vying for the rest. Out of the 20m/-, the
winning team received 15m/- and the loser took the rest.
The campaign saw the fans vote for their teams through sms in which one
team’s fans lost 10,000/- for each of the votes by the opposing team's
fans.
According to the Gaming Board of Tanzania official, Joshua Ngolo, the total number of valid votes was 106, 846.
Yanga and Simba’s skippers, Nadir Haroub and Emmanuel Okwi, accepted the
game’s results, with the latter saying his side had already expected to
come out victorious.
“We had expected to emerge victorious as we had prepared well for the game…Simba is better than Yanga,” Okwi said.
Haroub said the defeat was part of the game, noting that it has helped his side assess its strengths and weaknesses.
“No one should be blamed for the loss. We should join forces and ensure
the team performs well in forthcoming assignments,” Haroub said.
In the last year’s Nani Mtani Jembe match, Simba won 3-1.
