AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE national soccer side, Taifa Stars departed yesterday for Equatorial Guinea ahead of their tomorrow’s 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers encounter schedule to be staged at the Estadio de Malabo in Malabo.
Stars which had pitched their training camp in Nairobi, Kenya in preparations for their group J AFCON qualifier vital game against their hosts received a major boost following the arrival of three foreign based players.
Stars have been in Kenya for about two weeks, and they were scheduled to play two build-up games against their hosts Kenya Harambee Stars but they only managed to play a single game and lost 2-1, this after the second game was cancelled due to the untimely death of Tanzania’s fifth President his excellency Dr John Magufuli who passed away on March 17 in Dar es Salaam.
The second build game against Harambee Stars was scheduled to be played the following day on March 18 at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.
According to report from the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), the players who have joined Stars squad in Nairobi include skipper Mbwana Samatta and two others, Simon Msuva and Yohana Mkomola who are plying trade in Turkey, Morocco and Ukraine respectively.
Tanzania who are settling in the third position of group J with four points from four outings need to post positive results away against their hosts Equatorial Guinea at the Estadio de Malabo which was one of the host stadiums for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Stars won the first leg 2-1 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam and victory against their hosts who are currently settled in the second slot with six points so as to revive its hope of making it into the Cameroon 2022 finals.
With two games remaining in their campaign against Equatorial Guinea and Libya respectively, Stars need to win the two encounters so as to collect six points which will be enough to take them to the continental finals.
Tanzania’s Stars were slightly unlucky to only take a point from their two matches with group leaders Tunisia last November after narrowly losing 1-0 in Tunisia before a 1-1 draw in the return game in Dar es Salaam.
In another development Taifa Stars towering striker John Bocco believes making it to the Cameroon 2022 AFCON finals will be a testimonial about the development of the country’s football.
Tanzania had qualified twice in the continental major football showpiece with the first being 1980, and second time was in the 2019 edition that was staged in Egypt with the team being under the Nigerian football legend Emmanuel Amunike.
And now Stars under Danish Kim Poulsen is battling for a place in the 2022 finals and Bocco believes if they successfully make it to the finals it will be positive news regarding the quality of the nation’s football.
“It will be nice if we qualify twice in a row, this will be positive as far as Tanzania football is concerned. It will be a message to all that our game has improved and the quality is good. “The coaches have been sharpening us, trying several tactics which will help us during the qualifiers. It will be up to us players to follow the instructions, give our best on the pitch and I am confident we will make it.”
Leaders Tunisia have already sealed their place in Afcon after collecting 10 points from the four games they have played.
Three days later, after battling Equatorial Guinea, on March 28, Taifa Stars will host Libya in Dar es Salaam to finalise their assignment in Group J aiming at winning and joining Tunisia, who have already qualified from the group.
