Kaizer Chiefs have been handed a stern warning about thinking Simba SC would be their easiest opponent in the CAF Champions League quarter-finals.
According to the CAF regulations, Chiefs can only meet teams that finished top of their groups but not Wydad Casablanca because they were in the same group.
This means any of Simba SC (Tanzania), Esperance (Tunisia) and Mamelodi Sundowns will provide the opposition when the quarter-final draw is conducted on April 30.
"Chiefs fans must not expect that Simba will be the easiest of all opponents that they stand to play against," warns Tanzanian defender Abdi Banda, who spent three years at Simba, in an interview with snl24.com/kickoff.
"Chiefs obviously have better quality by way of players and the kind of coaching, tactics and facilities that they have but Simba is a beast. With Simba you must know that it can even get ugly when they play at home. If Chiefs is to get Simba, then they must make sure that if the first leg is here in Johannesburg then they win 4-0 because any other score they will be inviting trouble in Dar es Salaam.
"Simba will use their home ground very by employing all tactics possible both clean and dirty. With this covid going on they can even identify the dangerous players from Chiefs and when you arrive in Tanzania you get to be told that those players are positive. Many teams have already been victims.
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"In Tanzania they say they only allow 10 000 fans in the stadium during these covid times, but you will find 30 000 inside the stadium. Chiefs will be surprised by a lot of things in Tanzania. Chiefs must make sure that when they go and play in Tanzania, they must be prepared to work more than they have ever done. Simba are the masters of using home ground and they play with your minds from officials, supporters, journalists… they are all partisan like that.
"Simba is a team that enjoys government, so they use any tactics in the book to disturb you. No one will ever beat Simba in Tanzania. Simba has money and maybe they will also confuse the referees. So, Chiefs fans must not think of Simba as their ticket to the semi-finals because that won't happen so easy."
Simba also have two players in Bernard Morrison and Luis Miquissone who struggled at Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns respectively, and are coached by Frenchman Didier Gomes da Rocha.