CAFCC: Florent Ibengé admits Azam FC must be clever to win against Al Merreikh

Tanzania Premier League outfit Azam FC coach Florent Ibengé has revealed his wary heading into their CAF Confederation Cup fixture against South Sudanese Premier League champions Al Merreikh FC at Juba International Stadium on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of their first leg, first preliminary round contest, Ibengé admitted that his side will come up against a well-oiled Sudanese side, who have incorporated foreign players into their squad making it even difficult to come up against them.

Al Merreikh big team in South Sudan

“We know that Al Merreikh is a big team here in South Sudan, and we know also that, Sudanese football is improving a lot, we saw with the national team, because Merreikh have some players, who play in the national team,” Ibengé told Pan-Africa Football ahead of the game.

“The national team is doing very well, that is for sure, they are improving a lot, and I think as my captain said, we know that we are going to play against a good team. We played some two games, but it was not enough but we are ready to go into the pitch and do everything possible to win the game.

“We know that Al Merreikh has very good players, before I think they played with Sudanese players, but now they have a team including foreign players, which means football is going up, and they are ambitious, we have to be really clever enough to win against them.”

Speaking on behalf of the players, Azam defender James Akaminko said: “Merreikh is a very good team, but I don’t want to talk a lot because we have not come here to enjoy, but to do our work of winning the game.

“We are here because of the game, we have prepared well, we know what is ahead of us, and our mission is to win this game, to prepare the ground for an easy return leg.”

The return leg will be played on Sunday, September 28 at Azam Complex Stadium in Tanzania.