AfricaPress-Tanzania: AFTER being bundled out of the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Mauritania, Ngorongoro Heroes Head Coach Jamhuri Kihwelo said his boys have learnt many things.
The Heroes suffered a 3-0 loss from Morocco on Monday night to prematurely end their campaign and are expected to jet back in the country today.
It was their second defeat after losing 4-0 in their first game from Ghana and they rekindled their hopes to penetrate into the quarterfinals following a 1-1 draw against Gambia in their second encounter.
As such, they simply wanted to outclass Morocco to earn a good chance of going deep in the contest but after 90 minutes of sweaty footwork, the end product was not friendly to them hence, mission not successfully completed.
From group C, Morocco and Gambia have qualified after pocketing 7 and 4 points apiece from three games they encountered in the group stage campaign.
“Though we are out of the competition, the boys have learnt many things which will help them to shine in their football careers. We faced good teams with quality players. “They surely got good training from beginning that is why they usually have high standards of play. For us, it was a great platform to learn what others do, so that next time we should not be new to the competition,” said Kihwelo.
He therefore lauded the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) for giving them adequate resources during preparation period after being exposed to a couple of friendly matches.
In group C match on the same day, Gambia overpowered Ghana 2-1 which saw the former cruising into the last eight of the Under-20 AFCON while the latter crashing out of the contest.
It was the first time for the country’s representatives to parade at the high class continental competition hence the exposure they have had will help them in the near future.
Meanwhile, TFF yesterday reminded teams which will compete in the group stages of the Region Champions League (RCL) to arrive at their playing venues by March 2nd ahead of its commencement on March 4th.
The games will unfold in four different venues which are Arusha, Coast, Lindi and Katavi Regions. Group A teams will congregate in Arusha which are TMA Star (Arusha), Sinai Rangers (Manyara), Sharp Stickers (Tanga), TRA (Kilimanjaro), Mara Sports Academy (Mara), Capco Veteran (Mwanza) and Huduma SD (Dar es Salaam) Group B teams will base in Coast Region and are Bega Friends (Coast Region), Temeke Squad (Dar es Salaam), 515 JK (Morogoro), Manyoni Sports Center (Singida), Kimara United (Dodoma), Annuary FC (Shinyanga) and Bariadi United (Simiyu).
In group C, teams will gather in Lindi which are Lindi United (Lindi), Mkuti Market (Mtwara), Mwabomba FC (Dar es Salaam), Top Boys FC (Ruvuma), Njombe Academy (Njombe), Mtwivila FC (Iringa) and Itezi FC (Mbeya).
Those in group C will play in Kitavi which are Tanesco FC (Katavi), Sumbawanga United (Ruvuma), Mapinduzi FC (Songwe), Black Star (Tabora), Toto Kigoma FC (Kigoma), Nyaishozi FC (Kagera) and Nyakumbu United (Geita)
