The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Majuto Omary
24 December 2011
Dar es Salaam — The national soccer team, Taifa Stars, will play seven-time African champions Egypt in a friendly come February 2012 in Cairo.Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) secretary general Angetile Osiah confirmed yesterday that the Pharaohs have requested a warm-up against Stars.
Osiah said the request has come at the right time when the Jan Poulsen men need to hone their skills ahead of a crunch Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Mozambique. “We are delighted to have such a good test for our team. The Egyptian soccer body (Efa) has also promised to incur all expenses,” the soft-spoken official said.
According to Caf fixtures, the preliminary and first round matches will be played during the first half of 2012 while the second round will take place in September and October. Hosts South Africa qualify automatically.
“We proposed to the Efa that the match be played in the third week of February and they agreed.”So we expect to assemble the team early for the encounter that will give us a reality check before clashing with the Black Mambas,” Osiah said.
Taifa Stars have never beaten the Pharaohs.
In November 2009, the former under the charges of Brazilian Marcio Maximo lost 5-1.The two teams locked horns again in January 2010 at the inaugural Nile Basin event and Stars coached by Poulsen could not break the curse as they lost by a similar margin.Meanwhile, the national women’s soccer team (Twiga Stars) is racing against time to raise Sh50 million for their African Championship preparations.
Twiga Stars, who are busy shaping up at the Karume Memorial Stadium, will go head-to-head against Namibia’s Brave Gladiators between January 13 and 15 in Windhoek.The return leg will take place at the National Stadium two weeks later.
Osiah called on soccer stakeholders to come forward and support the team.”The TFF does not have enough cash, therefore I call upon all stakeholders to support the team,” he said.
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