{"id":823,"date":"2026-08-20T06:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/nbcsoka\/simba-in-tricky-pamba-test-622.html"},"modified":"2026-08-20T06:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:20:23","slug":"simba-in-tricky-pamba-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/simba-in-tricky-pamba-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Simba in tricky Pamba test"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MWANZA:<\/span><\/strong> SIMBA Head Coach Steve Barker expects a stern test against Pamba Jiji today but is confident his side can maintain their strong start to the Mainland Premier League campaign when the two teams meet at CCM Kirumba Stadium in Mwanza.<\/p>\n

Barker said Simba\u2019s previous away experience against Pamba had taught the team valuable lessons, particularly after the fixture proved to be one of their most difficult matches last season. In their last two meetings, Pamba Jiji held Simba to a 1-1 draw at home on March before Simba edged the Mwanza side 2-1 in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe not only the players, but even myself and the coaching staff, that it was an experience playing away to Pamba. It was one of our most difficult fixtures of last season,\u201d Barker said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have learnt a lot and now know what to expect a lot better, as well as having many players who had their first match there.\u201d The coach said the difficult conditions and Pamba\u2019s determination to compete would provide another test for Simba, but insisted his players must find solutions if they are to challenge at the top of the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to continue winning matches and put ourselves in a position at the top end of the table and have a good start to the season, we have to find solutions to the challenges that lie ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Barker expects the pitch to be challenging but believes Simba can benefit from having midfielder Kelvin Nashon, who can provide useful information about the opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that we can expect a field that won\u2019t be very conducive in terms of the quality of the pitch, and obviously an opposition that will be doing everything in their power to overcome us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Simba midfielder Kelvin Nashon said the team had arrived safely in Mwanza and was well prepared for the encounter. He acknowledged that talent alone would not be enough against a Pamba side capable of fighting for every ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have prepared well. We know the type of match we are going to play. Talent is never enough, especially when playing away against a team that can fight and compete,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know Pamba and we know how we are going to play against them,\u201d he added. Pamba Jiji Assistant Coach John Wawu said his side would make changes from their previous match, with some players who were unavailable because of licensing issues now expected to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be some changes because in the first match we missed some players due to licensing issues, but there are players we will have for this match,\u201d Wawu said.<\/p>\n

He stressed that Pamba would adopt a different approach against Simba, saying every league match required its own tactical plan. Pamba captain Amos Kadikilo, meanwhile, said the players were ready to face Simba and would approach the fixture like any other league match.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimba are a big team with experienced and quality players, but our coach has prepared our mentality well, physically as well,\u201d Kadikilo said. \u201cWe believe all the players are in good condition. We see this as a normal league match. We have prepared well and I believe it will be a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

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MWANZA: SIMBA Head Coach Steve Barker expects a stern test against Pamba Jiji today but is confident his side can maintain their strong start to the Mainland Premier League campaign when the two teams meet at CCM Kirumba Stadium… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sportsenglish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sokasoga.website\/ltv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}