Goncalves unhappy with pitch condition despite Young Africans win

Young Africans coach Pedros Goncalves has blamed ‘the bouncing pitch’ for denying his team an opportunity to register a resounding victory against Coastal Union during a Mainland Premier League fixture at KMC Stadium on Sunday.

Prince Dube’s second league goal of the campaign arrived at a timely moment in the 88th minute to give the Citizens maximum points. Speaking after the game, the Angolan tactician blamed the condition of the pitch for derailing his tactics.

‘The ball kept bouncing, bouncing’

“We really made a wonderful performance, perhaps the 1-0 win don’t show everything we made, but the kind of pitch was not good, the ball kept bouncing, bouncing, and the opponents played more deep,” Goncalves told Pan-Africa Football.

“It was difficult because the ball was always bouncing, bouncing, but we kept the focus, I wanted us to win the game, we used fresh legs to win the game, and the players, who came in, did enough to give us the points.

“It is important to finish with a win, and now we have a break to start planning for upcoming matches.”

Coastal Union coach Mohamed Muya said his side lost the game because Yanga was more experienced to handle big moments in closing stages.

“We played with a lot of respect for Yanga, they have good quality of players, good technical bench, but I want to praise my players because they never gave in easily.

“We showed Yanga that we can also fight, we came with a plan to win, and we knew it was not going to be easy, but comparing the quality between the two sides, I am satisfied with losing 1-0. I don’t want to blame anyone, I can’t blame my players, they played accordingly, but Yanga prevailed because of their superiority.”

Yanga are only one point back of league leaders JKT Tanzania but they have played five less matches than the leaders. The Dar es Salaam giants are now four points clear of Simba, whose perfect start to the league campaign was upended by Azam FC earlier on Sunday.

The Tanzanian top flight is set for an extended break with fixtures set to resume in late January after the completion of the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

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