Tanzanian football club Young Africans Sports Club have named former Flames coach Patrick Mabedi as interim coach following the sacking of their immediate-past gaffer Romain Folz.
Yanga fired the French coach soon after their 1-0 loss to Silver Strikers in the 2025/26 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League second preliminary round first leg match at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday.
Mabedi, who was hired as the team’s assistant coach only last week, was not available for comment on his new interim task as the Wananchi prepare for the return leg against the Bankers scheduled for Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam this Saturday.
But in an interview on Sunday, Silver head coach Etson Kadenge Mwafulirwa said they are not reading much into his counterpart’s removal.
He said: “The shake-up at Yanga does not give us an advantage and we can’t get carried away with that.
“If anything, whosoever will be in charge, be it Mabedi or anybody will be out to prove a point.
“When there is a such a shake-up, even the players put in extra effort so as to impress the one in charge.”
Mwafulirwa also said the contest is far from over.
“This is only the first half, we have another 90 minutes to play away. So, we will have to double our efforts,” he said.
In a post-match interview, just a few hours before Yanga announced his firing, Folz said he was disappointed with the loss.
He said: “The reality is that we had more than enough chances, but we couldn’t convert them.
“My perspective is that it is half way. They [Silver] have to come to us [for the return leg] and we need to do what we have to do to qualify.
“It’s bad that we are a goal down, but we can do it and we will do it. We will watch and analyse the game and map the way forward.”
