Africa-Press – Tanzania. TAIFA Stars Head Coach Kim Poulsen has expressed his dissatisfaction on the way they were treated outside the pitch by authorities in Madagascar prior to their 2022 World Cup qualifiers over the weekend.
The country’s envoys stamped a 1-1 draw to complete the qualifiers on third slot with 8 points from six matches played thereby; missing out a chance to reach in the play-off stage of the contest.
However, at a post-match briefing, in an extraordinary circumstance, Poulsen declined to comment on what transpired throughout the game but rather opted to elaborate how they were treated.
“Today, I do not want to talk about the match…I want to send a strong message about what had happened outside the pitch. Before this game, Madagascar was the last team in this World Cup qualifiers group.
“And after today’s match, they are still the last one. FIFA and CAF talk about developing the game, they talk about fair play that is important to remember.
“In Tanzania, we welcome our guest teams with karibu (welcome) and as hosts, we try to do our level best to make their stay enjoyable in all aspects maybe they want to come back another day to Tanzania.
“Our reception in Madagascar has been very different from the start to the end. When we landed, Madagascar authorities decided to let us wait in the flight for 15 hours and they could not open the doors so we had to wait,” said Poulsen.
He added: “This was just the beginning and have been continued throughout our stay. In Tanzania, we tested negative for Covid-19. When we arrived in Madagascar, we had to be tested again and their laboratory said three players and some officials out of blue were positive.
“We all know that this was not correct. Last evening, we went for another test whose results showed that players were negative. Now, the Madagascar authorities could not release the results because they knew that they have a problem,” said the Danish trainer.
The three players who were claimed to be Covid-19 positive and missed the game were skipper Mbwana Samatta, central defender Bakari Mwamnyeto and goalkeeper Aishi Manula.
On his part, striker Simon Msuva who netted the solitary goal for his side on the day and emerged the top goal scorer for Taifa Stars in this year’s edition of the qualifiers with four goals, said they have garnered enough experience from the played fixtures.
“As you know, our team has got many new players hence playing at this big level has given us good experience such that even in other contests like CHAN and AFCON, we can perform well due to experience we have generated,” Msuva said.
Queried on why during the qualifiers they seemed to perform well in away matches unlike those played at home, Msuva replied that pressure at home leads to their decimal display.
“We do not want to lose at home but sometimes it happens automatically mainly with pressure but we are grateful with the stage we have reached because we played against teams which are ranked above us and managed to show them that we can do it,” he said.
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