DESPITE unsuccessfully going all out to secure a precious victory in their respective quarterfinal first legs of the CAF Champions League last weekend, Simba SC and Yanga do not have time to mope around as the second legs of their quarterfinal will take place this weekend.

Indeed, many die-hard Tanzanian football fans were left feeling sad following Simba SC’s wafer-thin 1-0 loss to Egyptian bigwigs Al Ahly and Yanga’s more encouraging sharing of the spoils with South African big guns Mamelodi Sundowns.

It is clear to see that Simba SC faces a herculean task in their second-leg tussle with Al Ahly this weekend as the highly acclaimed Egyptian titans have garnered greater success than any other club in the exciting history of the CAF Champions League.

Nevertheless, despite the magnitude of the challenge facing them, the Msimbazi Street outfit will have to summon up the courage to boldly head to Al Ahly’s home ground and earn an emphatic win that would seal their place in the semi-finals.

Lest we forget, minnows have sometimes taken the scalps of so-called heavyweights who were unwise enough to underestimate them.

This fact then should offer encouragement to Simba SC as they go in search of a resounding second-leg victory that would see them carry the day and advance to the semifinals, which would be a remarkable first for Tanzanian football.

While Simba SC will be trying to overturn the deficit from their first leg in their second leg clash with Al Ahly, Yanga will be earnestly seeking to gain an outright victory against their highly touted South African opponents Mamelodi Sundowns in the second leg of their quarterfinal tie.

Indeed, Yanga impressively held their own in their quarterfinal first-leg match against Mamelodi Sundowns, which ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Admittedly, Yanga faces an uphill battle in their second-leg showdown against Sundowns, especially when one remembers that the Jangwani Street side will be playing on South African soil.

However, given the admirable display that Yanga produced in the first leg, there is every reason to believe that the Jangwani Street club can stunningly defeat their South African opponents on the latter’s home ground.

Let us now zero in on junior women’s netball which has been in the headlines recently following the overall below-par performance of the Junior Taifa Queens at the recently concluded Netball World Youth Cup Africa Qualifiers in South Africa.

Despite trying their damnedest, the Junior Taifa Queens miserably lost all of their matches in their fruitless efforts to leave a mark on the competition.

Importantly, one key reason for the debacle is the glaring fact that the Junior Taifa Queens lacked exposure which played a major role in our shoddy displays.

In addition, the Junior Taifa Queens’ opponents were able to easily take advantage of another noticeable shortcoming of the team, which was the height of our players.

This conspicuous weakness was the fact that many of our players were too short while in sharp contrast, many of our opponents were towering in stature.

It should also be noted here that local netball as a whole suffers from gross underinvestment, which is a deeply dissatisfying state of affairs in urgent need of redress.

Thus, one hopes that netball stakeholders and well-heeled corporate firms will swiftly invest in the sport to put it on an upward trajectory.