South African coach Fadlu Davids missed out on a chance to win the CAF Confederation Cup after his Tanzanian side Simba SC lost the final 3-1 on aggregate to Moroccan side RS Berkane.
Simba got into the match with the tough task of overturning a 2-0 deficit from the first leg in Morocco last week but looked like they would pull it off when Joshua Mutale gave them a 17th minute lead.
Mutale slotted in after receiving a good pass from Elie Mpanzu to revive his team’s hopes and the home side should have taken a 2-0 lead soon after during the second leg clash staged at the Aman Stadium in Zanzibar.
Blow for Simba after sending off
With Simba applying pressure, Berkane players started going down in a bid to slow down the game while some of the referee’s calls were contested by the Simba technical bench, leading to a yellow card shown to Davids in the 36th minute.
In the second half, Simba received a massive blow when they were reduced to 10 men after Yusuph Kagoma was shown a second yellow card just five minutes after restart, making their work even harder.
That did not deter Simba, who kept pushing and in the 73rd minute, they thought they had scored the second one when Stephen Mukwala headed home.
However, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was disallowed for offside in what was a blow to David’s team.
What next for Fadlu Davids’ team?
Soumaila Sidibe would score for Berkane in the final minute of time added on for 1-1 in the second leg and 3-1 on aggregate to hand the newly-crowned Morocco champions a third Confederation Cup trophy in the last six years.
For Davids, it was another missed opportunity from a season that promised so much, having taken Simba to their first-ever Confederation Cup final, while he has seen his team lose their lead in the Tanzanian league.
Simba, however, still have an opportunity to win the league as they are on 69 points, four behind leaders and bitter rivals Yanga with two games remaining while the champions have one to go.
Simba need to win their game in hand to take it to 72 points and set up a grand finish on the final day when they will face Yanga in the Kariakoo Derby where the winner will be crowned.
