Goncalves blames fatigue for Young Africans draw against Azam

Young Africans coach Pedro Goncalves admitted his players were not super heroes following their 0-0 Dar Derby draw against Azam FC at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Sunday.

A tactical battle ensued with few opportunities for either team, who were both content to not take unnecessary risks. The result suits Young Africans, who maintain an eight-point lead at the top of the table over Sunday’s opponents.

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Gonçalves praised the strength of his team’s opponents and it appeared that maintaining tactical discipline was the emphasis from the Portuguese tactician. The two teams combined for only one shot on goal each throughout the ninety minutes.

‘We need recovery for the players’

“It was a very tough match, it was difficult in that scenario and if it was possible we have enough days to prepare then the result couldn’t have been this way,” Gonçalves told Pan-Africa Football.

“We need recovery for the players but now it is time for the super heroes, and my boys are not super heroes. Azam put more pressure, we needed to adapt to the tempo, and to the pace, but after 30 minutes we understood their game and arrived in their box and created some chances even in the first half.

“In the second half, I managed to freshen up the players, it was not because the players were not playing well, because they were absolutely finished. I wanted to freshen the team to give them more power to move forward.

Yanga remained top of the log

“In the end we are in the marathon, we must finish the league, we have to run to the end, we got one point, it is not what we wanted, but we can take it and put focus our on the next game.”

The draw enabled Azam to stay second on the log with 28 points from 14 matches, while Young Africans remained first with 36 points from the same number of matches.