Three and thirty: Yanga maintains their hegemony

Young Africans SC won the Mainland Premier League for the third time in a row on Monday, their 30th overall, and proceeded to dominate Tanzanian football.

At the Manungu Complex in Morogoro, Yanga overcame Mtibwa Sugar 3-1 on the road to increase their point total to 71 from 27 games. Neither second-place Azam FC nor third-place Simba SC will be able to match that amount for the duration of the campaign.

Yanga trailed 1-0 to Charles Ilanfya of Mtibwa in the first half, but goals from Kennedy Musonda, Nasir Kombo’s own goal, and Clement Mzize gave the Dar es Salaam giants the lead.

“Mtibwa Sugar fought hard in both halves, so it was not an easy match,” The Citizen cited Yanga coach Miguel Gamondi as saying.

I told my players to maintain their concentration, especially in light of Mtibwa Sugar’s struggle with relegation. Thankfully, my players did a good job carrying out our strategy.

Gamondi, who succeeded Nesreddine Nabi and was appointed in June 2023, is the first person to have this rank. The two previous championships, in 2021–22 and 2022–23, were supervised by the Tunisian.

The Argentine strategist remarked, “I am proud of my players who are very committed and know what Yanga fans and members need from them.”

The foundation of Young Africans’ success has been their formidable defense, as they have only let up 13 goals in 27 league games. Their offense has also been very effective, scoring 60 goals at a rate of more than two per game.

Yanga’s next goal is to apply his dominance of the home scene to continental competition, now that it is well under control.

They made it to the CAF Confederation Cup final in 2022–2023 (losing to USM Alger in the final), and this season they advanced to the CAF Champions League quarterfinals before losing in a contentious manner to Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.

In 2024–2025, Yanga will participate in the Champions League once more, with Gamondi and his staff hoping to make the team formidable opponents in the elite league.