The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
24 December 2011
editorial
Tanzania will be represented by four teams in continental football this time round. They will be taking part in the Champions League and the Confederation Cup.
The teams that will wear our national colours are Young Africans and Simba Sports Club from Tanzania Mainland and Jamhuri and Mafunzo of Zanzibar.
They are expected to play their first leg matches in mid-January 2012 and the return legs two weeks later. Young Africans will play Zamalek of Egypt at home and later play away in Cairo. Simba SC will meet Rwanda’s Kiyovu while Mafunzo will play against Mozambique’s Muçulmano Maputo in the African Champions League. Jamhuri will take part in the Confederation Cup, playing against Zimbabwe’s Hwange FC.
The tough assignments notwithstanding, our teams have yet to start intensive training.Young Africans have abandoned their plan to camp in South Africa due to financial constraints. Simba SC, Mafunzo and Jamhuri have yet to release their training programmes.
Our teams are now gearing up for the second round of the local league and there is no evidence of strategies that will improve their performance on the international front.
The success of clubs in international competitions contributes a great deal to development of the national team. It would appear, though, that club leaders may not be aware that investing in the game at their level is wiser than waiting for miracles to propel them to top level football.
There is just no evidence of serious preparations ahead of the championships. Instead of training intensively in order to fine tune their performance, some teams are abandoning plans to put in decent practice in camps abroad.
This country recorded poor results in last year’s continental club championship and the Confederation Cup due to poor preparations. It is high time club leaders got down to the business of meaningful training. There are only three weeks to go before they start playing the first leg of their games.They must be made to understand that it is their duty to ensure the country does not post poor results that humiliate us.
AllAfrica – All the Time