AfricaPress-Tanzania: MOZAMBICAN referee Celso Armindo Alvacado has been picked to officiate the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) return leg match between Taifa Stars and Tunisia at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam tonight.
He will be assisted by Arsenio Chadreque Marengula (Mozambique), Zacarias Horacio Baloi (Mozambique), Simoes Bernardo Guambe (Mozambique), Dlamini Zide Gilbert (Eswatini) and Mfubusa Bernard (Burundi).
The country’s flag carriers head into the game seeking nothing else but victory in order to re-establish their chances of progressing to play in the finals of the biggest club competition on the continent to be held in Cameroon next year.
Taifa Stars who sit third on the ladder with three points have a big chance to produce tangible results against Tunisia who narrowly won 1-0 in the first leg duel played last Friday at Stade Olympique de Rades in Tunisia.
The slim win gives Tanzanians a hope that the home team can equally revenge the loss they suffered in the past match hence, all that will be seen later today when the two sides meet.
Already, Star’s Head Coach Etienne Ndayiragije reiterated that his men are looking forward to stamp the highly demanded victory by using well the home ground advantage as such; people should descend at the venue in big numbers to rally behind their team.
However, through social media outlets, people have recommended that Taifa Stars should explode themselves by attacking a lot from the beginning to the end other than to employ the sit back formula.
This was their reiteration from the way the team played in Tunis as they opted to defend a lot thereby paralysing many threats from the hosting side no wonder they only sourced one goal from the spot kick throughout the entire 90 minutes of play.
Skipper Mbwana Samatta will again miss today’s battle as he is still recovering from his injury he picked while on duty with his current Turkish club Fenerbahce hence John Bocco is likely going to put on the captaincy armband.
Entry charges for the game have been unveiled as 10,000/- for VIP B and C occupants while Orange, Green and Blue seats will be accessed by 5,000/- only.
According to the recent standings of group J, Tunisia lead with 9 points after winning all their three matches, seconded by Equatorial Guinea who outclassed Libya 1-0 on Sunday to hit 6 points whereas Tanzania are third with 3 points so as bottom placed Libya.
Equatorial Guinea who looked underdogs in the group seem to have gained momentum after defeating Libya in both legs and they will host Taifa Stars later in the same competition.
Initially, Tunisia and Libya seemed favorites to cross the boundary and reach to the promised land but now, things look to have made a U-turn with the former looking certain to go through while the remaining position can go to any of the three teams on the log.
