Africa-Press – Tanzania. INTERNATIONAL friendly match with Democratic Republic of Congo will open Taifa Stars’ 2021 duties according to the fixture released yesterday by the country’s football governing body (TFF).
According to TFF, Taifa Stars will play two matches against DR Congo, on January 10th and 13th both serving as build up encounters for the CHAN 2021 Finals in Cameroon.
Five days after the friendly games, the squad will begin a campaign to seal a quarter finals place.
Where it will take over Zambia on January 19th, Namibia on January 23rd and complete the group D stage games with Guinea on January 27th .
The national team is under the tutelage of Head Coach Etienne Ndayiragije who announced the provisional squad last year.
They knocked out Kenya 4-1 on penalties after a barren of draw in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi that took them to the next stage against Sudan who won 1-0 in Dar es Salaam, but lost 2-1 at home .
Tanzania advanced on the away goal advantage after the aggregate scored ended 2-2.
In preparation for the forthcoming competitions head coach Etienne announced the national squad with 30 players that will represent CHAN competition.
The squad has only involved players who home play the Mainland Premier League. Five of them are from youth academy.
They are; Abdulrazack Hamza of Mbeya City (U-20), Khelfinnie Salum of Azam FC (U-20), Samwel Jackson of Ihefu (U-20), Omari Omari (U-17) and Paschal Gaudance of Azam (U-20).
Meanwhile; the Rwanda Football Association (FERWAFA) has requested four Tanzanian international referees to officiate a special tournament that will be held in Rwanda.
The referees with the badges of the International Football Association (FIFA) are Elly Sasii and Mfaume Nassoro; others include the assistant referees Frank Komba and Soud Lila.
The competition will take place from January 7th to 11th as part of CHAN preparations and will involve the host Rwanda, Namibia and Congo Brazzaville.
