TREQUARTISTA
FORMATIONS, STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
The two giants of Tanzanian football lock horns on Wednesday evening. Simba come into this tie having acquired maximum points from their four league games while Yanga seem to have recovered after a shaky start to their campaign. Here is what to expect in this mouthwatering encounter.
Formations
Simba will be expected to line up in a 4-2-3-1 while Yanga in a 4-4-2. With a man advantage in central midfield it should be expected that Simba will dominate possession. Simba’s midfield triangle will comprise of Kazimoto, Kiemba and Chombo while Yanga’s two will be Chuji and Niyonzima. This 3 v 2 situation will most likely play itself out much like the way it did in the game between Simba and Ruvu Shooting.
What is of particular importance here is that out of the three midfielders Kiemba seems to be the weak link as he tends to misplace passes and as was observed against Ruvu shooting got dispossessed when under pressure. This could be something that Yanga could look to exploit however being a man down in this area makes this impossible. It should also be noted that the double pivot of Kazimoto and Kiemba switches around at halftime. Kazimoto usually starts on the right side in the first half but then switches to the left come second half.
So far most of the opposition that Simba has faced have deployed a 4-4-2/4-1-3-2 formation. A formation most suited to deal with Simba’s 4-2-3-1 formation is a 4-3-3. A crash of two triangles, one being a mirror image of the other ensures that there is numerical parity in midfield as each of the three midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 is faced with an opposing midfielder. This not only allows for a pressing game as each midfield player has a direct opponent but also means that the game boils down to the individual abilities of the players. This however necessitates great faith in your own player’s abilities. Having finished the last match (link) with a roughly 4-3-3 it shouldn’t come as a surprise if Yanga at some point in the game do revert to this formation. If Yanga do play a 4-3-3 then expect the midfield triangle to be comprised of Chuji, Niyonzima and Domayo.
Fullback and wing positions
To begin with both teams appear to be strong on their right Twite for Yanga and Cholo for Simba, both comfortable on the ball. The left back position for Simba is yet to be decided as Maftah’s red card means he will miss this encounter. It will be interesting to see who his replacement will be and how he interprets his functions.
With Ngasa playing predominantly on the left and making inward runs it is important that Maftah’s replacement does compliment this movement with an overlapping run. Doing so will stretch the play and also keep Twite occupied.
Presuming that Msuva does again take a position higher up the pitch on either wing (he switched wings in the game against African Lyon) this would mean that he leaves his fullback exposed if the opposition fullback i.e. Maftah’s replacement or Cholo chooses to overlap. This would create a 2 v 1 situation in Simba’s favour. It is necessary to force Msuva to back track as this will negate his and Yanga’s attacking impetus (he was Yanga’s best performer in their last match so it makes sense that his impact in the game should be minimized) and the only way of doing so is for the fullbacks to overlap.
The second scenario might be that Msuva’s positioning might cause concern for Simba’s fullbacks to a degree that they fear being exposed when overlapping thus sticking back and ensuring cover all the time. As to who prevails will hinge on who is willing to gamble.
Lastly Yanga’s Oscar Joshua seems to lose his composure when under pressure so Simba will be well advised to instruct either Ngasa or the other midfield player to press him as soon as he gets the ball.
Set play
In Sunzu Simba have a tall player who is valuable when defending corners. He usually takes a position right in front of the front post. The whole idea is to force the opposition to hang their crosses thus enabling Kaseja to come and collect the ball in midair. Short corners seem to be Yanga’s best chance of getting the most out of the corners and having succeeded with one in their previous game albeit through poor defending do expect a few in Wednesday’s game. Yanga on the other hand appeared to try zonal marking in their previous game against African Lyon during corners and it is yet to be seen if they will fully adopt this in future games.
4-3-3 vs a 4-2-3-1. triagles that are mirror images crash ensuring a 3v3 in midfield. Down the flanks each fullback has a winger to deal with.
Ally Mustapha
Mbuyu Twite
Oscar Joshua
Kelvin Yondani
Nadir Haroub
Idd 'Chuji'
Saimon Msuva
Frank Domayo
Didier Kavumbagu
Hamis Kiiza
Haruna Niyonzima
Juma Kaseja (c)
Nassoro Masoud .
?
Shomari Kapombe
Juma Nyoso
Mwinyi Kazimoto
Amri Kiemba
Ramadhan Chombo
Edward Christopher
Felix Sunzu
Mrisho Ngasa
Predicted starting lineups.