AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA Football Federation (TFF) on Thursday confirmed reaching an agreement with Etienne Ndayiragije to terminate his contract as Taifa Stars Head Coach. According to the information published on the federation’s official Instagram page ‘tanfootball’, simply said the two sides have reached mutual consent to go separate ways.
However, former Taifa Stars coach Kim Poulsen is heavily linked to succeed Ndayiragije at the helm of Stars even though official statement from the county’s football governing body over the matter is yet to be released. Poulsen is not new to the country’s football circles having worked here for a long period of time both at senior and junior levels where he specifically played a vital role to shape youth players.
Ndayiragije replaced former Nigeria and Barcelona player Emmanuel Amunike in 2019 following poor performance despite taking Stars to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals held in Egypt. It was then the second time after 39 years for the national team to compete in the biggest football event on the continent but, under his tutelage, they lost all three matches in their group C.
Stars lost 2-0 to Senegal, 3-0 from Algeria and suffered another 3-2 setback from Kenya to end the tournament without earning a victory thereby fuelling the sacking of then Head Coach Amunike.
However, the big test for Ndayiragije was during the recently played 2021 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon where he failed to navigate the team to the quarterfinals.
The team played very well in their last game versus Guinea which ended 2-2 but the outcome went in favour of their opponents making the country’s envoys fail to reach in the Promised Land.
Failing to progress further into CHAN competition might be the reason behind his sacking as he was presented with all the necessary ingredients to take further the team.
But, regardless who comes next to take charge of the coaching responsibilities at the national team level, a lot of work should be done to create a competitive national team(s) capable to win titles.
Taifa Stars are exposed to all the required resources to make them a strong side but year after year, they do not use the potential they have to scale up on the world face.
