Photo Courtesy Yanga SC Media.
Young Africans (Yanga SC) head coach Sead Ramovic has said that despite the team being eliminated from the Caf Champions League they will not be discouraged but will continue with the ‘project’ to build a stronger side for future success.
The Citizens failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the lucrative competition following their 0-0 draw against MC Alger in their final Group A fixture at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium. Going into the game, the Tanzanian Premier League champions needed a straight win to qualify while Alger were seeking a draw, which they got to progress alongside Al Hilal of Sudan.
Speaking after the failure to qualify, Ramovic admitted that his squad was heartbroken by the outcome, but insisted it was the beginning of a great task to build a better team.
“This is not the end of our journey,” said Ramovic. “We have missed a chance to progress, but that doesn’t mean that Yanga has ended here. We have missed out on qualifying, but the work continues. This is just the beginning of building a strong team and we will have a great team that will bring great success in the future.”
Ramovic further rued the team’s missed opportunities during the game saying luck was not on their side. He also praised Alger saying they defended strongly and used the tactics of long balls, which killed his game plan.
“We were supposed to win the game, but we couldn’t, we missed out on many good scoring opportunities, and that's because of luck of attention. A team like MC Alger is difficult to play with because they defend themselves strongly, and we were ineffective in the last balls.”
He continued: “We have to do a thorough assessment and see which areas we did well and where we need to improve to get further. This is a long-term project and we will continue with our efforts.”
Yanga finished third with eight points, two less group winners Al Hilal and one less second-placed MC Alger.
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