AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE national Under-20 Ngorongoro Heroes head coach, Jamhuri Kihwelo has insisted Tanzania will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations finals to be held from February 14 to March 4 in Mauritania as serious competitors and not just mere participants.
Julio said that his side will do whatever possible to excel well in the finals, focusing on winning the title as well as qualifying for the Under-20 World Cup.
“It will be a tough affair, but our mission is to make sure that we pose a stiff opposition as serious title contenders,” he was quoted as saying. “We are in a tough group , we therefore need to be more serious in training and achieve our mission,” “We had stepped up training very well and we are current in Dar es Salaam’s camp to shape up for the crucial and major event,” he said.
He further said that he was happy to manage his boys qualify for the crucial African showpiece event in a football history. Tanzania is in Group C that comprises of Ghana, Gambia and Morocco.
The teams in group B are Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Namibia and the Central African Republic whereas Uganda , the Hippos have been pitted against hosts, Mauritania in group A alongside Cameroon and Mozambique.
Uganda and Tanzania had qualified for the 2021 AFCON U20 Championship in Mauritania after overcoming Kenya and South Sudan respectively at the Under-20 Cecafa regional semifinals held in Arusha last December.
The Arusha regional event was part of qualification for the AFCON finals in Mauritania.
Their proceeding to the finals of Cecafa event in Arusha was just a mere formality despite booking their tickets for the Mauritanian event. The finals saw Hippos defeating the hosts, Ngorongoro heroes 4-1 .
Goals by Najib Yiga, Steven Sserwada, Ivan Bogere, and Aziz Kayondo inspired the Hippos to their first CECAFA U20 title as Ngorongoro Heroes finished runners-up.
Hosts Mauritania will play the opening match of the 12-team competition against Cameroon on 14 February in Nouakchott. The tournament will be played in the two cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou.
Nouakchott will host two groups at the Stade Olympique and Stade Cheikha Ould Boïdiya while matches in Nouadhibou will be played at Stade Municipal de Nouadhibou.
This is the first time the U20 Africa Cup of Nations has been expanded to 12 teams instead of the eight in previous tournaments.
