Pundits smiling on Rivers United, while forcing the mood on Wydad

This brought the fans and pundits to seize the occasion to map out the chances of their preferred clubs.

The overall mood that emerges is that the situation is promising for one club.

There is a credible premise for being fairly confident about Young Africans SC, alias Yanga, tackling Nigeria’s Rivers United (though the former is an improved side from the recent past).

Chances of Simba SC outdoing Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca call for something other than projecting what they can do at a technical level, but some sort of either strength or ability to push that is inconceivable, virtually comparable to a push in a maternity ward.

It is to imagine a picturesque and almost intolerable effort on the part of each player.

Put differently, the pundits can project a situation where Yanga tames the Nigerian champions or holds them to a draw and try to see what they can do in a return encounter.

This is projected from the side’s normal ability to play, in which case it is a realistic assessment of opportunities, while the same is not being done for Simba SC.

Here the tonality of discussion moves from rational projection of their pattern of play against Wydad in its usual pattern of play, to a host of ‘ifs’, a push.

There are two sorts of warnings or caution that pundits have been raising on this evaluation, first the tendency of a section of Jangwani Street outfit fans to believe that so long as the side has been drawn with the Nigerian southern zone newcomers to the top circles, nearly like their opponents here, then all would be well.

One pundit was fairly candid in offering a 50 per chance possibility on either side to win, which is fair as the Jangwani Street side topped their group. It is thus a good side.

There were observations that Rivers United is not what it was when it defeated Yanga twice, and this is a point if, had it been sufficiently clear to the fans, they would be far less confident than they appear to be.

Yanga is also different from what it was at that time, but from what the chroniclers say, their opponents have seen far more systematic change while the local champions have seen significant improvement, not more.

Given some player dropouts lately, perhaps no real shift has been registered as Kenneth Musonda replaced Bernard Morrison, by and large.

In addition, as Rivers United also topped the group, it needs a bit of evaluation of group strengths to see which might have been heavier, in like manner as the differential group weight between the group local giants Simba SC played, and the Al Ahly inclusion group. 

Were there a difference between the two groups, which this contemplation has not attempted to pursue, then the confidence arising from the numbers would be reduced.

Whatever the case, the track record of African championships shows that improvement or decline is gradual, not instant.

All this leads to a marginal expression of an impression that as the change at Rivers United appears to have been more intensive, what may help Yanga is the level of coaching skills that Nasreddine Nabi has shown, especially in taming Club Africain at home, even if this is not a topmost Tunisian side one can talk of.

It is to suggest that the coastal Nigerian outfit could conceivably be a more improved side if one compares the side by individual players.

But that is not all there is to the game, and that is why coaching matters or tactical shifts where needed, especially.

But as the Nigerian club also topped the group, it might not be fully without risk to presume that the local champions have a coaching department advantage that could drive a spanner into what the Nigerian side will be planning to do.

Despite earlier success against Club Africain, Nabi could not field the tactical box to reach a happy end with tussling an old rival, Florent Ibenge at Al Hilal Omdurman, losing both ties, home and away.

Admittedly this is another competition, and Rivers United also descended to the second-tier run, so they are a less formidable squad, where in that regard the tactical – or coaching – advantage could reasonably work.

That is why it is reasonable to expect that Yanga has an opponent who is within range of the sort of club sides the team can handle, thus standing a reasonable chance of scaling the hurdle.

Still, when it comes to squad transformation or improvement the pundits are on the whole admitting that it is the Nigerian side that has undergone greater change, but the fact that they also slid to the second-tier run is an illustration of the rule that change is gradual.

It is among the good sides drawing out players available on the African circuit, which at the moment does not include either Mbwana Samatta or Simon Msuva.

Within that range everything or any outcome, if pursued with zeal and skills, is arguably possible, as the fans believe.