Matola declares Simba SC ready for Fountain Gate FC opener

Simba SC assistant coach Suleiman Matola has declared their readiness to kick off their new 2025-26 Tanzania Mainland Premier League campaign with victory when they take on Fountain Gate FC at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Thursday.

The Msimbazi Reds will head into the fixture knowing their rivals Young Africans kicked off their season with a 3-0 win against Pamba Jiji. Speaking ahead of their opener, Matola expressed the importance of starting with a win.

“After concluding our CAF game, we returned home and immediately embarked on preparations for the league opener, but we gave players’ a break of one day, and the good news for us is that all the registered Simba players are in camp, we don’t have injury concerns, everyone is good and ready to go,” Matola told Pan-Africa Football.

“We have trained well, with our focus on the opening three points, we want to win the game to set the tone for the rest of the season.”

Simba have moved on following Fadlu Davids departure

On whether Simba will be affected by the sudden departure of coach Fadlu Davids, he responded: “This things do happen, not only at Simba but all over the world, and we know we are all professionals, Simba players are professionals, it has happened, and for us we have moved on, and the biggest target is to win the first game.”

He added: “It will not be an easy game, our opponents remember lost their first match, so they will not be ready to lose another so early in the season, but our focus is to start well, and if you start well then you finish well, but as much as we know Fountain Gate is a tough team, we have prepared well.”

Matola further confirmed that Kenyan midfielder Mohammed Bajaber will not be involved. “Bajaber has not trained with us yet, he is in a recovery process, so we don’t want to rush him. He will not be ready for the league opener.”

Meanwhile, Fountain Gate coach Denis Kitambi is confident of causing an upset against Simba. “Many people have already written us off going into the game, they are all rallying behind Simba, and they have already said Simba will win.

“I don’t want to agree with them, because this is football, we play for 90 minutes and anything can happen, we are not going to play saying we have lost, we want to go there and fight for the points. I am sure we will get a positive result.”

Last season, Simba finished second in the league behind champions Yanga.

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