Dar es Salaam. In a dramatic finish at KMC Complex on Monday, February 17, 2025, Yanga secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Singida Black Stars, but it was Jonathan Sowah’s last-minute goal that stole the spotlight.
The goal, which came off a mistake by Yanga’s goalkeeper Diarra Djigui, denied him a clean sheet and left fans in disbelief, as the defending champions continued their pursuit of the league title.
This was Sowah’s third goal in the last four matches, further unsettling Djigui as he competes with Simba’s Moussa Camara for the Goalkeeper of the Season award, a title Djigui had held for two consecutive seasons before being dethroned last season by Ley Matampi of Coastal Union.
Monday’s match was highly anticipated for two reasons: first, the quality of Singida’s squad, which had caused Yanga some difficulty during their previous encounter in the first round, where Yanga narrowly won 1-0.
The second reason was the off-field drama surrounding Yanga, particularly Stephanie Aziz Ki’s wedding to model and artist Hamisa Mobeto, which many thought had distracted the defending champions from focusing on the game.
Yanga dominated the first 45 minutes to secure the victory with goals from their forwards.
Clement Mzize opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a powerful shot past the Singida defenders, marking his 10th goal of the season and maintaining his lead as the top scorer.
Yanga controlled the game and doubled their lead in the 44th minute, with Prince Dube heading in a short corner from Stephane Aziz Ki and Maxi Nzengeli.
That was Dube’s ninth goal of the season, putting him just behind Mzize in the goal tally, while Nzengeli registered his fourth assist.
There was a lot of debate after the match about the lineup Singida presented, with major changes that saw several of their star players remain on the bench until the second half.
Singida’s head coach, David Ouma, explained that he chose a lineup based on the challenging pitch and the series of tough matches they had played.
Unfortunately, their opponents, Yanga, did not come out with a back-three formation, which caused problems for Singida’s tactics
Before this latest goal that broke his clean sheet, Djigui had conceded a “wonder goal” by Seleman Rashid ‘Bwenzi’ when Yanga triumphed 6-1 over KenGold.
A week later, he was beaten again with another powerful strike by Redamtus Mussa as Yanga won 6-1 over KMC.
However, it was Sowah’s last-minute goal that left fans in awe, despite Yanga gaining three more points to reach 52 points after 20 matches.
Before those three goals in four matches, Djigui had played in the first eight matches of the season without conceding a goal, until Azam FC ended his streak with a 1-0 victory on November 2, 2024.
Then, Tabora United struck three goals in a 3-1 win on November 7, 2024.
Those four goals led to Djigui being rested, allowing Abubakar Khomeiny to step in, who conceded two goals when Yanga beat Mashujaa 3-2.
Djigui then returned to play four consecutive matches without conceding before KenGold scored against him, followed by a solid performance against JKT Tanzania.
