Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
Daily News Reporter
26 April 2011
The national U-23 coach Jamhuri Kihwelo ‘Julio’ has insisted that there would be no replacement for injured Mrisho Ngasa, ahead of the All Africa Games qualifiers return leg encounter against Uganda Kobs at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
Ngasa who picked a knock during the first leg match in Kampala, Uganda almost a week ago was recently dropped from the senior team squad that lost 2-0 in a friendly match away in Maputo, Mozambique last Saturday, but Kihwelo said the mercurial winger will keep his place in the team.
“We’ll not drop him because doctors are still monitoring him you never know what might happen in the course of the remaining three days. He can as well regain his fitness,” said Kihwelo.
However, the outspoken coach admitted that chances for Ngasa to feature in the game remain remote.
“He’s such an important player, very influential and we’ll all love to have him playing in the game but that does not mean we can not win without him. We’ve got 25 good players in the squad and Ngasa’s void will be perfectly filled, just as the way we did against Cameroon, his absence was hardly felt,” he said.
Responding to Kobs coach statement that they will be offensive throughout the evening, Julio said he would love to see them (Kobs) going for attacks. “It will mean an entertaining football. A team that just sit back and absorb your attacks will not please fans.
We want to play good football and win, and in most cases you can not play good football with a bad team You play good football with a good team,” he said. Vijana Stars faces an uphill task of bundling Uganda out following the defeat in the first leg match, but Julio remained optimistic his lads will not disappoint the home crowd.
The Kobs technical bench promised to lay most of their emphasis on finishing, against Tanzania’s Vijana Stars. The team’s assistant coach, George Ssemwogerere, told Uganda’s newspaper, The New Vision, that there will be limited change in the squad that managed a 2-1 home lead, but said they needed more goals to be able to advance.
“There was a problem with the striking line. There was poor finishing and we need to sharpen it further. Our target is to seek for more goals and this can only come with building up the concentration of the striking line,” he said.
“We will be working on most of the areas but we are looking more on the striking line. The best defence is to attack and we are going to look for goals,” he added. The Kobs are expected in Dar es Salaam on Thursday ready for the match and Ssimwogerere has expressed his fear on the Tanzania’s Vijana Stars attacking instinct.
Benjamin Ochan will retain his goalkeeping duties in the Kobs team despite his scandalous mistakes in the first leg of the All Africa Games qualifier against Tanzania. Ochan was caught off his line for the visiting side’s away goal in the 2-1 win.
“The advantage he has is that he holds the ball tight, which will be necessary against an attacking Tanzanian side,” U-23 team coach George Ssimwogerere stated. Meanwhile, the lowest entrance fee for the All Africa Games qualifiers return leg encounter between Tanzania’s U-23 side and Uganda’s Kobs has been pegged at 1,000/-.
The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Information Officer Boniface Wambura said in a statement on Tuesday that tickets for the match set for this Saturday at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam will go on sale from this Friday.
AllAfrica – All the Time