Yanga coach relieved but tough workload ahead

Yanga grabbed an aggregate win of 3-2 to ease into the second round, in which they will meet Egypt’s Al Ahly.

Yanga cruised to a 2-1 win over APR in the first leg match and the former needed a draw of any margin in the return leg match to land a place in the next stage of the tournament.

The Netherlands tactician said his team committed several blunders particularly at the rear early in the game, noting that the early goal scored by the visitors changed the game.

“The early goal changed the game…we made mistakes in marking tactically. They played a very good game, they didn’t play like this in the first leg,” he said.

APR coach, Nizar Khanfir, was full of praise for his team, saying it was a very good side throughout and several scoring opportunities, which were, however, not fully utilized.

“The first goal opened the game and it gave us strength to press forward and carve out several more chances,” Khanfir said.

He congratulated Yanga for qualifying for the next round and expressed hope the latter can perform well in the stage.

Yanga carelessly lost possession and failed to create meaningful chances for most of the opening half.

Yanga defenders, on several occasions, struggled to string passes and they, in the process, endured plenty of criticism from fans.

While Yanga had, so far, two good chances in the first half, APR had plenty of opportunities only to be let down by inept finishing.

APR had an upper hand for thebetter part of the half, in which the team made full use of the wings to put Yanga defence under pressure.

APR midfielders led by Yannick Mukunzi saw more of the ball and were responsible for of dangerous forays their team made into the Yanga penalty area in either half.

Yanga were forced to go for a more defensive approach for the remaining part of the game as APR continued to put pressure on the former.

Yanga will be meeting Al Ahly for the second time in the premier continental club competition and the game stands to be a challenging duel for the former.

Yanga played Al Ahly in the first round of the 2013/14 CAF Champions League, with the latter eventually knocking the former out after a penalty shootout in the return leg match.

The first leg game, played at the National Stadium, saw Yanga take a slim 1-0 win and Al Ahly beat the former by the same margin in the second leg match to force the game into dramatic penalty shootout.