THE National Under17 Women football team Head Coach Bakari Shime said the massive 5-1 thrashing of Burundi on Sunday was the fruits of good preparation.
Tanzania started their 2020 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign on a front pedal mercilessly defeating Burundi in an interesting first leg match held at the 60,000 capacity National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, with the reverse leg expected on January 25th in Burundi.
But, speaking at a post-match briefing, Shime said the long-term preparations prior to the game enabled them to win with such a big margin.
“Honestly, the results we have recorded today (Sunday) are the fruits of good preparations we have had as we want to attain our objectives and is a positive start for us in this qualifying matches,” Shime said.
Adding, Shime lauded his players for successfully implementing on the pitch all the game tactics he tasked them to do throughout the important encounter.
He also hailed massive support from Tanzanians who went at the venue to watch Live the game insisting that such good gesture was an ingredient to their impressive performance.
Aisha Masaka, who scored a hat-trick on the day said it was her sixth hat-trick of her football career saying she is used to score them.
“I am used to scoring hat-tricks and it is not a new thing for me. I am a striker and my task is to score goals,” said she.
His counterpart for Burundi Daniella Nibhimenya conceded that they were highly dominated by the hosts leading to their loss.
“To let them score many goals was an indication that they were better than we but all is not lost as we have another second leg to play hence an opportunity to turn things around,” she said.
Also, expressing her satisfaction was the Chairman of Tanzania Women Football Association (TWFA) Amina Karuma who said the displayed performance revealed that the team is very competitive.
Moreover, Karuma said the reason to let Shime and his technical bench stay with the team for a longtime is because of the workable football philosophy they have successfully applied in the team.
“As leaders, we will do our part to ensure that in Burundi, we get tangible results to help us jump into the second round of the competition. The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) is already doing a commendable job to uplift women football in the country hence we need to sustain that,” she said.
She then called for extra support from Tanzanians as far as promoting women football in the country is concerned.
Others who scored on the day for the host team include Joyce Meshack and Protasia Mbunda who each contributed one goal, while the only consolation goal for the visitors was netted by Nadine Ndayishimiye in the 69th minute.
The return match is set in Burundian capital, Bujumbura whereby the winner will face either Uganda or Ethiopia in the second phase of the qualifiers.
