Kaizer Chiefs' CAF Champions League opponents Simba SC have spent this week searching all over for inspiration as they seek to overturn what equates to going up their own Mount Kilimanjaro.
Following a 4-0 defeat at FNB Stadium last Saturday in the first leg of their quarter-final meeting with Amakhosi, Simba still have belief that they can still make it to the semi-finals even though it will be scores as 5-0, 6-1 and 7-2 which will take them through.
In the hunt for motivation, they have turned back the hands of time to 1979 when they overturned a similar 4-0 defeat first leg loss against Mufulira Wanderers to win 5-4 on aggregate in this very same competition.
"It is hard to believe that Simba can turn down the tables on Saturday but in football everything is possible," Daud Salum, who was part of that 1979 squad is quoted as saying in the Tanzanian media.
"The current Simba team has the quality players, it's just a matter of preparing well. I believe they can do wonders, but it is not that easy. They must fight hard and the decision whether to excel or not is not theirs. They should think about the pains which Simba fans and members are going through after their recent defeat. They need to be hopeful that if their colleagues succeed at their home, they can achieve that as well. Another loss will damage their work," says Salum.
Just like Chiefs, Simba have never reached the semi-finals of this competition since it became known as the Champions League but were in the last four back in 1974 when it was known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs.
Their home – the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium – is a fortress where they have not lost in eight of continental club football.