FOLLOWING their wholly classy displays in CAF’s Inter-club championships in recent seasons, many Tanzanians had been hoping that our flag bearers in this season’s continental football competitions would not only pick up from where they left off last season but that they would even go on to achieve unprecedented progress in African football’s biggest club championships.

These hopes were strengthened during an impressive preseason build-up of a few local clubs to the newly minted campaign which included Young Africans’ superlative 4-0 thrashing of South African powerhouses Kaizer Chiefs in a friendly clash aimed at preparing the Tanzanian heavyweights for the new season.

In light of this, then, there was a palpable mood of expectancy at the Azam Complex last Saturday during Young Africans’ CAF Champions League first preliminary round first leg encounter against Burundian outfit Vital’O with multiple Young Africans’ supporters in attendance.

Seeking to begin their continental football campaign with a bang, Young Africans were the first off the starting blocks to make a splendid beginning as they drew first blood in only the sixth minute of the consequential football contest.

In the wake of that goal, Young Africans mercilessly put Vital’O on the back foot as they dominated the match in what was an unmistakably one-sided affair.

Indeed, after enjoying unchallenged dominance throughout the entire duration of the clash, Young Africans emphatically claimed a superb 4-0 triumph over their Burundian counterparts, which leaves the Jangwani Street-based side with one foot in the next round.

Distressingly though, while Young Africans are unarguably happy campers following their resounding first leg triumph, Coastal Union are likely down in the dumps at the moment after their return to the ultra-competitive African football arena did not unfold according to the script.

Facing off against their hosts FC Bravo of Angola in their CAF Confederations Cup first preliminary round first leg tie, Coastal Union proved to be disappointingly not up to scratch as they miserably lost 3-0 on hostile territory.

With the high stakes, all-important second leg due to take place this weekend, it is a truism that Coastal Union have a mountain to climb in the second leg against FC Bravo.

For Young Africans’ part, one hopes that they will not rest on their laurels in their second leg match against Vital’O as this could prove to be utterly self-destructive.

Let us now examine the European football realm, where a brand new season just kicked-off last weekend.

Indeed, in arguably the globe’s most popular football league, the English Premier League (EPL), a new post-Jurgen Klopp era has dawned at Liverpool as the Reds are now being coached by the highly rated Dutch tactician Arne Slot.

With many pundits eager to see whether Slot can fill the big shoes left behind by the departing Klopp, Liverpool fans will have been heartened by their team’s triumphant start to the new 2024-25 season.

Indeed, despite an uncomfortable first half against Ipswich in their opening EPL clash of the new season, Liverpool came good in the second half to claim a deserved 2-0 victory against their newly promoted counterparts.

Significantly, one Liverpool attacker who got his name on the score-sheet last weekend was the menacing Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah, who by virtue of his valuable contribution will have gladdened the hearts of many Egyptian and African football fans.

It is hoped then that other favourite sons of the continent who are plying their trade abroad like Atalanta’s lethal Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman and Arsenal’s Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey among others will play pivotal roles in the success of their respective football sides this season.