Africa-Press – Tanzania. TAIFA Stars players began to assemble in Dar es Salaam yesterday ahead of their two back to back 2022 World Cup Qualifiers against DR Congo and Madagascar early next month.
The country’s senior team has been lined up to play DR Congo on September 2nd at TP Mazembe Stadium in Lubumbashi prior to hosting Madagascar at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on September 7th.
Head Coach Kim Poulsen has already paraded his arsenal who will play lungs out to carry the country on their shoulders in seeking to qualifying for the world’s biggest football showdown.
In his remarks recently, Poulsen noted that the selection of the players was based on their performance in the various Mainland Premier League matches and how they performed in the past international friendly match against Malawi.
He also narrated that another criteria he has used to pick some of them is on the way they played in the Under-23 CECAFA tournament in Ethiopia where they clinched the title.
Moreover, he said the team has a combination of experienced and less experienced players with the latter being groomed for future national team responsibilities.
“For instance, in the beginning, I have picked four goalkeepers but we will travel with three shot stoppers. Two of them are experienced and the other two are still young which I believe have potential for the future,” he said.
He continued: “If you remember, during my first days in Tanzania, Aishi Manula used to be the young goalkeeper among the experienced ones but he was groomed until now he is the number one goalie.”
Furthermore, Poulsen disclosed that he spent time to see how Uganda were preparing for their qualifying games and observed that they began camp on August 15th which was also the date he wanted Taifa Stars to regroup.
He then pointed out that he has suggested to the TFF to organise at least one international friendly match as soon as possible before they travel to DR Congo for the big game.
The list of the selected players with their parent clubs in brackets are as follows: Aishi Manula (Simba), Ramadhan Kabwili (Yanga), Metacha Mnata (free), Wilbol Maseke (Azam), Shomari Kapombe (Simba), Israel Mwenda (Simba), Erasto Nyoni (Simba), Dickson Job (Yanga) and Bakari Mwamnyeto (Yanga).
Others are Kennedy Juma (Simba), Lusajo Mwaikenda (Azam), Abdulrazack Mohamed (Azam), Mohamed Hussein (Simba), Nickson Kibabage (Youssofia FC – Morocco), Edward Manyama (Azam), Ayoub Lyanga (Azam), Meshack Mwamita (Gwambina) and Novatus Dismas (Maccabi Tel Aviv – Israel).
Also, the list contains Mzamiru Yassin (Simba), Mudathir Yahya (Azam), Feisal Salum (Yanga), Salum Abubakar (Azam), Zawadi Mauya (Yanga), Iddy Selemani (Azam), Abdul Suleiman (Coastal Union), Mbwana Samatta (Fenerbahce – Turkey), John Bocco (Simba) and Simon Msuva (Wydad Casablanca – Morocco).
