AfricaPress-Tanzania: TAKE it seriously, the FIFA-date international match with Burundi in Dar es Salaam this weekend, is very vital to Tanzania more than just a mere friendly encounter.
We are obliged to take it seriously as the match is a national team remedy of the six-month hiatus that football fraternity suffered during Covid-19 scare and as well it serves as an early preparation for the postponed African Nations Championship (CHAN) and the World Cup qualifiers.
We caution Taifa Stars under Mbwana Samatta captaincy to take the Sunday match diligently as among winning strategies to help the team overcome the threat of their CHAN’s group D opponents; Zambia, Namibia and Guinea.
The match against neighbours, whom we faced and ousted in the World Cup qualifiers, can be one of the way to assess our team’s power and weaknesses and come up with a perfect solution before starting the CHAN and the World Cup campaigns.
It is crystal clear that most teams that succeed in the continental or global level tournaments must have had ample preparations and in most cases it has paid off.
If we want to see Taifa Stars advance to the higher levels, we should immediately start with the Sunday friendly with Burundi since it makes the national team meet after more than six months of inactivity.
We also like to tell Taifa Stars Head Coach Etienne Ndayiragije and the entire technical bench to keenly use the Sunday match to make a thorough scrutiny of each player and see who really deserves to be re-called when the team re-assembles for the two major events.
This call for the early preparation also involves players as individuals since all of us are obliged to serve the nation. Players must work hard while we, the rest, will rally behind them at the Benjamin Mkapa stadium.
We end up by calling the football governing body (TFF) to fully commit themselves to the national team, by ensuring they get many friendly games after playing Burundi so as to keep the team in good shape ahead of the Cameroon mission.
Delighted and very hopeful to see our team performing well on Sunday we would like to tell all Tanzanians to support the team now before we head for CHAN mission.
