Simba Coach Opens Up On Beating Pirates

Simba SC head coach Pablo Franco Martin admits their 1-0 win over Orlando Pirates might not be enough to take them through to the semi-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Tanzanian giants beat Pirates at the 60,000 capacity Benjamin Mkapa on Sunday afternoon which Buccaneers coach Mandla Ncikazi described as ‘shameful‘.

Having been accused on numerous occasions of underhand tactics to win games at home over the past few seasons, the club has turned their home ground into somewhat of a fortress in CAF inter-club competitions.

But the former Real Madrid assistant manager admits the prospect of facing the Soweto giants at Orlando Stadium might be a step too far – unless they come up with a solid plan for next weeks’ clash.

“When you win and not concede it’s a good advantage but we know in the African continent how difficult it is to play away, we know also the quality of the opponent, it’s a great team, we know the performance at home is going to be better,” he said.

“We’ve not been competitive enough when we play away, just one win away which was the weakest opponent in our group – so the result on paper is good, but with the factors we have to handle, I think it’s not enough.

“Unless we change that and that’s what we will try and do this week, to try and be more competitive with a good plan, try to score one goal because then the game is going to be more difficult for them – and be much more solid in defence than the previous games in this competition when we played away.”