Yanga SC striker Fiston Abdoul Razak has explained the last moments the players had with Cedric Kaze before he was fired as the head coach of the club.
The former Sofapaka striker had put Yanga ahead against Polisi Tanzania in a Mainland Premier League match played in Moshi on Sunday but in the 89th minute, Polisi levelled matters courtesy of Pius Buswita.
Razak has now explained after the game, Kaze, who did not know he was later to be fired, took over two hours to explain to the players about the goal they conceded which resulted in the draw.
“I cannot blame my coach and I feel very hurt when I remember what the coach told us before and after this game, my coach has really faulted the goal we conceded again [today], I am very sorry for him, he almost cried explaining to us the goal we conceded was not worth,” an emotional Razak told Azam TV after the game.
“If you remember the last game, we conceded a similar goal late into the match, the coach has taken almost two hours and even yesterday [before the game], he took his time to plead with us to avoid conceding such goals, especially from dead balls, he pleaded with us to avoid committing mistakes at our own danger zone, and we just did that again.
“I really don’t know what to say especially to my fellow players, I don’t have words, it is very painful.
“In fact, if you also put in mind at the time we conceded, our opponents were a man down owing to the red card but we still gave away a goal, it is very sad, for us the players, in fact for me, it has brought down my spirit."
Asked whether Yanga still stand a chance of winning the title despite the recent run of poor results, Razak said: “Today’s [Sunday] game has taught me many things, but we still have a chance to win the title, but only if we rectify the mistakes we commit and we stay focused when playing in a match, from the first to the last whistle.”
On his opening goal against Polisi, Razak said: “It is not a goal to celebrate now, it did not give us three points, I was happy to have scored but the moment Polisi levelled matters, then my goal came back to a normal goal with no value.”
After the game, Yanga moved to fire Kaze and the team’s entire technical bench and have promised to have a new team in place before their next league assignment.