DAR ES SALAAM: SIMBA Head Coach Steve Barker has called on his players to maintain their high standards and avoid complacency after the Tanzanian giants swept aside 15 de Agosto 9-1 on aggregate in the CAF Champions League preliminary round.
Simba sealed their progression with a commanding aggregate victory, having won the first leg 6-1 before completing the job at Uhuru Stadium.
Despite the emphatic scoreline, Barker insisted that his side’s focus must remain on continuous improvement rather than being carried away by their success.
“I’m happy with the individual performances and the collective team performance,” Barker said.
“We are a team that prides itself on never becoming complacent and always looking to keep improving. We will take the positives from the last two matches, but there are still one or two areas we can look to improve.”
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The coach also explained that the comfortable advantage from the first leg influenced his approach to the return fixture, with squad rotation a key consideration as Simba balances their continental campaign with domestic commitments.
Barker said the changes were intended to rest some players and give others an opportunity to gain freshness ahead of an upcoming league match.
With qualification secured, attention now turns to Simba’s next challenge as they pursue their ambition of reaching beyond the Champions’ League group stage and making a strong impression on the continent.
Barker acknowledged that the draw would determine their next opponents but stressed that his team would approach the campaign one match at a time.
“We will have to see what the draw holds for us, and we will be positive in our efforts to get ourselves into the next stage,” he said.
“We want to do well on the continent. It is a massive objective for us to hopefully get into at least the knockout stages, and from there anything is possible.”