Tanzania: Poulsen Asks for One More Friendly Match

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Majuto Omary

17 May 2011

Taifa Stars coach Jan Poulsen has asked the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to organise at least one more international friendly for his team ahead of next month’s match against Central African Republic.

Poulsen said yesterday that he would like to rectify mistakes he noticed during last weekend’s friendly against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana before facing CAR in a crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

“My players’ lack of killer-instinct is one of the areas I intend to work on. In our match against South Africa we created many chances, but we failed to convert them into goals,” Poulsen said.He suggested that the friendly be against one of the best soccer playing nations in Africa and should take place at the National Stadium.”We need at least one more high-profile friendly before facing Central African Republic.” he said.

He predicted a tough match against the Central Africans, saying his team must train intensively if they are to silence their opponents at their own backyard and remain serious contenders for a place in the finals.

“We managed to divide the game, South Africa dominated in the first half and we managed to push them in the second half but we fail to utilise several opportunities we got to score. It was a good performance by my players, but we need to increase the pace in attacking, thus we need to train for it,” he said. the players joined the team for the important build-up test before the qualifier.

Meanwhile, Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has suspended the activities of the Tanzania Soccer Academy (TSA) due to what it termed as ‘unavoidable reasons’.The TFF and England-based firm, Kiliwood, jointly established the centre for exploring and developing young talented players for the benefit of the nation. TFF Information officer Boniface Wambura said that the decision was taken since last year and the executive committee had already issued directives to the secretariat due to the fact that the decision should involve the two parties.

Wambura said that the centre was accommodating talented junior footballers aged between 17 and 20, who some of them have already displayed the needed skills in the clubs, national team and in abroad.

Many players have been featuring in the mainland Vodacom Premier League teams while others like Thomas Ulimwengu and Yusuph Soka have won contracts in abroad. He explained that the fate of the centre would be decided after a meeting between TFF secretariat and Kiliwood officials.

“Executive committee has already made its decision, and we are just waiting for the outcome of the meeting between our secretariat and Kiliwood officials,” said Wambura.In another development, Tanzanian professional midfielder Nizar Khalfan has said he would come to play for the national team, Taifa Stars, as the head coach, Jan Poulsen, is striving to get one trial match before the team face Central Africa Republic (CAR) for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

Taifa Stars missed the services of Nizar, who plays for Vancouver Whitecaps of Canada, Idrissa Rajab (Sofapaka-Kenya), Danny Mrwanda and Abdi Kassim (DT Lon An), Henry Joseph (Kongsiver of Norway) and Athuman Machupa of Vasalund IF of Sweden, during an international friendly build-up against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in Dar es Salaam.

Nizar has said he is ready to come and join the team ahead of AFCON qualifiers. Speaking with The Citizen, he said that he failed to join Taifa Stars for friendly against Bafana Bafana due to tough commitments he had in his club.

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