CAFCC: Ibengé credits Azam FC’s huge win to sticking with philosophy

Azam FC head coach Florent Ibengé had revealed his happiness after helping the Tanzanian Mainland Premier League club to write history by reaching the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup on Friday.

The Ice Cream Makers stormed into the next round with a ruthless 7-0 defeat of KMKM in Dar es Salaam, completing a 9-0 aggregate triumph in the second preliminary round. Leading 2–0 from the first leg in Zanzibar, the Tanzanian side finished the job with a four-goal burst before half-time and three more after the break at the Azam Complex Stadium.

The tie was effectively over by the interval as Azam’s tempo, pressing and width overwhelmed the visitors, who never recovered from the early onslaught. The pattern was set after 20 minutes when Azam’s sustained pressure finally yielded the opener.

With confidence surging, the hosts struck again four minutes later, then added a third on 27 minutes as KMKM struggled to clear their lines. A sweeping move down the right produced the fourth goal on 40 minutes, sending Azam into half-time 4-0 up on the day, 6-0 on aggregate, and cruising.

‘Everbody is very happy at Azam FC’

Speaking after the game, Ibengé told Pan-Africa Football:  “I am really happy for the result, because it has been a long time since the team wanted to reach the group stages, we are really happy to hit the target. I am also very happy because the fans who came enjoyed good football.”

He added: “I hope the fans will be there for our next game against Singida. We played very well, and everybody is happy because we played good football. We won because we played good football, we scored amazing goals, and we didn’t concede. We only gave the opponent a few possibilities to score which we managed to contain, we are happy.

“What impresses me most from the game, we are improving in how we play, we have one philosophy and that is what we showed today (Friday), how we attack, how we defend, and that is how we want to play in future matches.”

‘I want to congratulate Azam for qualifying’

Meanwhile, KMKM coach Hababuu Ali conceded defeat by saying: “After the first game we managed to contain them, but this game we gave them too much room to take control and we got punished because of our own mistakes.

“I want to congratulate Azam for the win, they deserve to reach group stage. Our target was to reach the same stage but we have fallen short, but it is not bad for KMKM at first attempt, because next year we will come back even stronger.”

The draw for the group phase now awaits Azam, who will fancy their chances of extending this form against stronger opposition.

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