THE Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) on Thursday pledged to give all its support to the national football team Head Coach, Etienne Ndayiragije, ahead of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals.
The country’s envoys Taifa Stars have been placed in group D together with Zambia, Namibia and Guinea of which two top teams will step into the CHAN knock out phase set to begin on April 4t h to 25th this year in Cameroon.
Briefing members of the media here, TFF General Secretary, Wilfred Kidao said the federation will do its utmost to fully implement the technical bench programmes as one way to help the team excel in the competition.
“For us, we believe that the only way to succeed in the CHAN finals is to thoroughly prepare well by ensuring that the technical bench is given all the desired support for the team to excel,” he said.
Kidao said that timing of CHAN for them is like killing two birds with one stone, bearing in mind that the national team will play a two legged 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) against Tunisia next month before their departure to Cameroon.
“As you know, most of the players who will be picked to feature in AFCON qualifying games are the ones, who will play in CHAN finals as such, the camp to be used for the two return matches against Tunisia will be the same for the CHAN encounters,” Kidao stated.
He then stressed that playing against Tunisia will be enough preparations for CHAN duels, insisting that due to minimal time available, there will be no friendly matches for Taifa Stars.
Asked what will happen to the Mainland Premier League, when the national team will be in Cameroon for CHAN since by then the league will not be over yet, Kidao answered that they have already communicated with the Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB) to keenly review the current fixtures.
“The good thing is that we work closely with TPLB as such, we have asked them to adjust the league timetable for the entire period when the national team will be away bearing in mind that some teams contribute many players to the senior football side,” Kidao said.
However, in his general comment of the group, Kidao said it is not easy since all the 16 teams which have made it to Cameroon are competitive with quality to reach far.
“No group is easy in the finals, we just need to be fully prepared before reaching the battlefield,” said Kidao.
Taifa Stars made it to the CHAN finals after crushing out Sudan 2-1 in the reverse leg played in Sudan’s capital Khartoum with Ditram Nchimbi scoring the winning goal on the day.
The first leg at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam between the two teams ended 1-0 in favour of Sudan hence the national flag carriers progressed on away goal rule in the return match where they simply smartly overturned the scoreboard.
Defending champions and hosts Cameroon are in group A and will have to prove it against Mali, Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe while group B is made up of Libya, DR Congo, Congo and Niger.
Rwanda and Uganda will meet in an East African derby as they are stacked in group C together with Morocco and Togo respectively.
