Africa-Press – Tanzania. NATIONAL Under- 17 ‘Serengeti Boys’ have sealed a place in the AFCON finals after successfully beating Ethiopia in the CECAFA semis at Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu, Rwanda.
Serengeti will therefore lockhorns with neighbours Uganda cub in the CECAFA finals.
The two competition finalists have both qualified for AFCON competitions which will be staged in Morocco next year from July.
Reports from Rwanda said that the two nations fought fiercely and completed the 90 minutes with a 1-1 draw and hence forced the referee to decide the game by penalties whereas Tanzania took the lead by 4-3.
Mbarak Mohammed, Abubakari Ramadhani, Abdallah Hamisi and Hijja Shamte were the Tanzanian’s heroes while Omari Bakari missed.
The 90 minutes of the game seemed to have been in favour of Tanzania after taking the lead in the first half of the game in the 37th minute; it was Omary Sultan who put the boys at lead after completing Abubakari Ramadhani long range free kick.
Tanzania showed a lot of quality in creating positions that would have awarded more goals but due to few errors in the finishing line, the boys could not get any.
The first half was completed with Tanzania leading by 1-0. Serengeti Boys came in the second half with a lot of energy to seek another goal but their efforts were not fruitful.
Ethiopia leveled in the 72nd minute that gave pressure to Tanzania to seek a goal, but their efforts offered more fouls and corners which were all saved by the Ethiopian custody.
Tanzania had a magnificent journey in these competitions as they pocketed two wins and one draw. The squad has a lot of quality in defence, it’s a well-organised team but very poor in finishing.
The coach has to work hard on the finishing line following their forthcoming assignment,that is to face Uganda in the finals and the AFCON finals.
It was Oscar Mawa of Uganda once again in the pocket for his nation, a winning goal in the 89th minute of the game. Mawa has now banked six goals in three matches he has played.
He has indeed been shown an outstanding performance since the beginning of competitions, whereas he recorded a hat trick in the opening game as his squad won 5-0 over neighbours Kenya.
In his second game, he led his nation well to qualify for the semis after scoring twice as they won 3-0 against Ethiopia.
