AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE national Under-17 Women Soccer team, ‘Twiga Stars’ departed on Monday for South Africa to participate in the Cosafa Cup that took off on Monday at Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa.
They join their elder sisters ( the women senior team) that departed on Sunday for South Africa for the regional African showpiece event.
It is a chance for Tanzania to hold COSAFA women’s trophies at the same time, after Under-20 side triumphed in that age group in the tournament that was also staged at the same venue in 2019.
Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Information Officer, Clifford Ndimbo said that everything is in place to make sure that both teams triumph at the regional championship.
The senior side, dubbed ‘Twiga Stars’ will tomorrow take on a tough side, Zimbabwe in their first match while the Under-17 side will in the same day take on Comorro.
They will also play Botswana on Saturday in their second match. Other countries that are taking part in the event are hosts South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The national women head coach, Bakari Shime will be keen to make up for the disappointment of the aside’s exit from the 2020 African Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifying competition in March, when they went down 6-2 on aggregate to the powerful Ugandan side.
The Ugandans are the reigning COSAFA Women’s Under-17 Championship holders after their win in Mauritius last year, but lost the first leg to the Tanzanians 2-1, which shows the quality of Shime’s side.
They could not hold their hosts in the return leg though as Uganda ran out 5-0 winners. Tanzania had defeated Burundi 6-1 on aggregate in the round before, with ever-dangerous Aisha Masaka grabbing a hat-trick in the first leg.
She also got both goals against Uganda and will be a real threat in Nelson Mandela Bay
