Galaxy appeared to have made a rod for their own back when they conceded to unanswered goals against Tanzania’s Simba SC in the first leg of the CAF Champions League a fortnight ago in Gaborone. A trip to the notorious Benjamin Mkapa Stadium is not for the faint-hearted as numerous visiting teams have come crashing down, regardless of their stature.
Some of the score lines have bordered on the insane as Simba has made it a habit to win by big margins against some of the continent’s finest teams. Most teams are dragged into the feared cauldron in the capital, Dar-es-Salaam like a gentle lamb to the slaughter. In most cases, the slaughter has been carried out in a brutal fashion. Egyptian giants, Al Ahly and South Africa’s glamour club, Kaizer Chiefs are some of the recent case studies of Simba’s brutality. The high-riding sides were brought down to earth, with the North African sides boarding the plane back to Cairo on the back of a 1-0 defeat. Chiefs were humbled 3-0 but had done enough in the first leg to eliminate East Africa’s best club, according to the 2021 club rankings. Simba is one of the richest clubs in East Africa and has won 21 domestic titles, including consecutive successes in the last three seasons.
