THE national Under-20 Women’s football team (Tanzanite) will face Senegal in the second round of the qualifiers whose finals will be held in Costa Rica and Panama.
The country’s envoys posted an aggregate 4-2 win over Uganda to step into the next round of the competition and will instantly start preparations to take on Senegal in a two-legged match set to be played in March.
To book a tie with the West African side, Tanzania smashed Uganda 2-1 in the first leg played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam and recorded the same victory in the reverse leg held at the KCCA Lugogo Stadium in Kampala, Uganda over the weekend.
However, at a post-match press briefing, the team’s Head Coach Bakari Shime lauded the high level discipline displayed by his charges saying it helped a lot to claim the vital away win.
“It was not easy to defeat Uganda bearing the fact that we know each other very well as we frequently meet in various competitions. But, discipline was the main ingredient which highly enabled us to emerge winners,” he said.
He added that winning 2-1 was great for them as they had to come from behind after the hosts took an early lead midway into the game.
Moreover, Shime disclosed that the positive results had shown that the team is capable to win both at home and away a thing he termed as very important for them.
“The more international games these girls are exposed to is to a large extent building the desired confidence in them to face any opponent,” Shime narrated.
He also pointed out playing against a team which they rarely meet will be an added advantage to them than otherwise. It was Diana Msewa who scored in the 58th minute to cancel out Phiona Nabbumba who netted in the 49th minute to put her side Uganda in front.
But, the match winner for Tanzania on the day was Opa Clement who fired home in the 67th minute to completely seal off the encounter.
Japan are the current champions of the tournament after winning it last year after beating Spain 3-1 in the finals staged in France.
