It was a mixed atmosphere at the stadium after the final whistle, which witnessed the newly crowned Jangwani Street boys coming from behind to steal the trophy away from Sofapaka's hands, thanks to Boniface Ambani and Mrisho Ngassa goals with just six minutes before the end of the game.
As the players and thousands of Yanga fans broke into euphoric celebrations, Sofapaka players led by their custodian Wilson Obungu took to the stage the drama of their own after starting chasing Ugandan referee Dennis Bate for what they claimed biased decisions.
The law enforcers had to come to Bate's rescue as well as controlling furious Sofapaka players to enable other activities especially the presentation of the winners awards to take place.The trophy handover took hardly five minutes.
The guest of honour, the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, George Mkuchika accompanied by Leodegar Tenga, the President of the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) presented the trophy to the team captain Abdi Kassim.
Yanga who managed to win all their four matches en-route to their second Tusker championship, were awarded 40m/- in cash prize, the trophy and medals.
Sofapaka who are making a maiden appearance in the tournament, took home 20m/-, and medals, while Simba who finished third received 10m/- as well as medals.
Yanga's Jerryson Tegete emerged the tournament's best scorer and won a trophy and 2m/- as Zanzibar's Mafunzo was selected the most disciplined team to win a trophy and 2m/-.
Yanga started impressively the assignment and had an early opportunity when Abdi Kassim's shot hit the crossbar and Kigi Makasi failed to connect from the rebound. The defenders reacted swiftly to clear the ball from danger.
After wasting several chances, Yanga were made to pay in the 35th when Wanyama Thomas' wonder free-kick beat goalie Obren Curkovic in the far post.
Despite starting the second half strongly Yanga had to wait until the 84th to level the matters as Sofapaka defensive approach backfired when Ambani slotted home with a close range following a goal mouth-scramble.
Ngassa completed the dramatic comeback in the 89th minute following a defensive mix-up as he unleashed a powerful low shot past Obungu.
Sofapaka players confronted second assistant referee Jesse Erasmo in protest believing that the scorer was offside.
TEAMS:
Yanga: Obren Curkovic, Shadrack Nsajigwa/Fred Mbuna, Amir Maftah, Bakari Mohamed, Nadir Haroub, Athuman Idd, Nurdin Bakari, Abdi Kassim, Jerryson Tegete/Boniface Ambani, Mrisho Ngassa, Kigi Makasi.
Sofapaka: Wilson Obungu, Kamadi Michael, Jamse Situma, Tumba Kilonzo, Edgar Ochieng, Nicolas Muyoti, Humphrey Ochieng, Kimani Anthony, Wanyama Thomas, Bob Mugalia, John Onami
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