Simba fans’ intimidation working in Chiefs’ favour, says Mphahlele

Kaizer Chiefs arrived this week to a big media contingent waiting for them at the airport in Tanzania, and on their way to the hotel also came across some frenzied Simba SC fans.

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Amakhosi are in the East African country for the second leg of their Caf Champions League quarter finals fixture.

The Soweto side have a nice four goal cushion ahead of the match at Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in Daar es Salam on Saturday afternoon.

Amakhosi defender, Ramahlwe Mphahle says they were met with all kinds of acts aimed at unsettling them, but it is in fact working the other way around.

“We arrived here late on Thursday. I know Tanzania is a beautiful country, I know the (civil) relations that we have with them. We feel at home,” said Mphahlele. “You can feel the vibe already. You can see that they know that they are playing against a good team.

“They love their team, most people here support Simba. Some of them were making signs showing us that they will give us three, they will give you four. It’s going to be difficult; they are already sending a message to indicate to us that it is not going to be easy.

“But that is good because we need to be very alert and focused. We have a big task ahead of us. We drove (from the airport) at night, but we could see the supporters shouting, the cars were hooting…

“This is the biggest competition in Africa in terms of football, it features all the best teams in the continent. We saw it in Angola. The people there were saying we will get five and we wouldn’t beat their team at home. It is something we are now used to.”

Mphahlele said Amakhosi have a clear mandate in Tanzania – to ensure they advance to the semi-finals.

“We are now pushing for the top four. We know we are playing against a big team and they will have a packed stadium. We are getting messages even on our social media, people are saying they are coming to the stadium and we will not beat their team. But those are outside factors, we are focusing on ourselves as a team.”

Simba have been allowed by Caf to have 10 000 supporters at the stadium for the match against Chiefs.