Tanzania: Stars Seek Mambas Revenge

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)

Japhet Kazenga

22 April 2011

The national soccer team, Taifa Stars, resumes preparations for the forthcoming assignments in the 2012 AFCON qualifiers by facing their hosts Mozambique in an international friendly match in Maputo today.

The match has been specially organized to inaugurate an ultra-modern venue, Estadio do Zimpeta, which will host this year’s All Africa Games finals scheduled for September 3 to 8.

Stars, however, will take the encounter rather more seriously as it will be a timely opportunity for the squad’s players to gauge their skills ahead of a vital AFCON qualifiers’ return leg match against the Central African Republic (CAR) that will be held at the latter’s backyard on June 4 this year.

The fact that Stars’ head coach, Jan Poulsen, has lined up a good number of members of his first choice squad for the friendly match, gives it a much more serious image, as he is looking forward to putting his players through rigorous training. Stars’ last competitive encounter with Mozambique took place in September 8, 2007 at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam during the 2008 AFCON qualifiers in which Stars suffered a painful 1-0 defeat to the visitors.

Stars, which were then in the group 7 of the qualifiers also comprising Burkina Faso and Senegal, had until then, been in a quite promising run for a place in the 2008 AFCON finals hosted by Ghana but the defeat to the Mozambicans frustrated their chance.

An 8th minute header by Mozambique’s veteran striker Manuel Jose Luis Bucuane, alias Tico-Tico, silenced a capacity crowd at the National Stadium and despite spirited attempt by the hosts to cancel out the goal, the score line remained the same right up to the end.

Stars’ skipper and full back, Shadrack Nsajigwa, and centre back, Nadir Haroub, are the only players in the current squad who were part of the 2007 outfit that was then coached by Brazilian Marcio Maximo.

The Maputo game is expected to be followed by two more high profile international friendly matches against South Africa, Bafana Bafana, and Chad.

According to Poulsen, Stars’ players will have a short rest after the friendly and will then enter camp on May 2, to prepare for the match against Bafana Bafana scheduled to take place at the National Stadium on May 14.

Stars will then play Chad at the same venue three day’s later, before embarking on more intensive preparation for the AFCON qualifiers’ return leg match against the CAR. Players who were called for today’s friendly include goalkeepers Shaaban Kado (Mtibwa Sugar) and Shaaban Dihile (JKT Ruvu), defenders Shadrack Nsajigwa, Nadir Haroub (Yanga), Amir Maftah, Juma Nyoso (Simba).

Others are midfielders Kigi Makasi, Nurdin Bakari (Yanga), Jabir Aziz, Ramadhan Chombo (Azam FC), Mwinyi Kazimoto (JKT Ruvu) and Shaaban Nditi (Mtibwa Sugar) while strikers are John Bocco (Azam FC), Mbwana Samata, Mohamed Banka (Simba), Salum Machaku and Julius Mrope (Mtibwa Sugar).

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