The Citizen<\/a> (Dar\u00a0es\u00a0Salaam)<\/p>\nJessca Nangawe<\/p>\n
8 December 2011<\/p>\n
\nDar es Salaam \u2014 Guest team Zimbabwe flew back to Harare on Wednesday after a Hamis Kiiza’s header summarised their Cecafa Tusker Challenge Cup campaign.<\/p>\n
But The Warriors head coach Norman Mapeza was full of praise for the level of organisation by the regional soccer controlling body, Cecafa.<\/p>\n
Mapeza, who expressed his disappointment over losing 1-0 to Uganda in a quarterfinal match on Tuesday, said Cecafa’s organisation of the event was superb. “We feature in the Cosafa championship annually, but I have seen something different in East Africa. The organisation of the tournament is by far better than how we do things in the Cosafa region.<\/p>\n
“Our region has totally gone to sleep together with the Western African side. We really have to take aggressive steps if we want to catch up with the Cecafa region,” Mapeza said.<\/p>\n
He said the level of competition among the teams has also improved and this benefits the whole continent.”I am happy that the Cecafa always invites us for their tournament and this is benefiting us and other member countries in the this region as well.”I believe our participation added some flair and competitiveness in the tournament and we shall always be grateful if we are invited again,” Mapeza said.<\/p>\n
The Zimbabwean showered praise on Somalia and Djibouti, but advised the regional body to step up its development efforts in the war-torn countries.<\/p>\n
Mapeza lauded his players for their fighting spirits and promised to come back stronger should they earn an invitation.Zimbabwe came to fill the void left by Namibia who decided to pull out in the eleventh hour.<\/p>\n
AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n
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