AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE lone goal by Simon Msuva was enough to give Taifa Stars a home pride over Libya despite crashing out of next year’s AFCON finals in Cameroon.
The Taifa Stars hosted the Libyans for a mere formality game that had just decided to see which side finishes above the other as their qualification journey ended on Sunday.
Taifa home side was however keen to end their Afcon campaign with a 1-0 win as Libya tried, but to no avail, to level matters throughout 90 minutes at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam. Stars’ goalie Aishi Manula was on top while dealing with Libya as he made dramatic moves that assured a home slim victory to remain above the North Africans in Group J.
Taifa Stars qualified for Afcon 2019 in Egypt and were eager to re-appear in the continent’s hot contest set to be staged in Cameroon in 2021 in a failed mission that saw them ending their Group J’s campaign in the third place with seven points from five matches as Libya sit at the bottom with three points from the same number of outings.
According to the qualifications’ procedures, two top teams in every group proceed to the finals, meaning that Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea have qualified for the AFCON finals after Taifa Stars and The second half saw a former Aston Villa’s Mbwana Samatta missing a goal in the 57th minute that could add value to Taifa Stars’ home margin.
Although he did not score against Equatorial Guinea in the penultimate qualifier that saw Taifa Stars losing 0-1 away in at the Malabo Stadium, Samatta, who currently plays for Turkish side, Feberbahce played a key role to challenge the visitors in their yesterday’s outing.
Taifa Stars have managed to feature in the AFCON finals once in 1980 while Libya has qualified thrice in 1982, 2006, and 2012.
In 1982, the team was both the host and runner-up. 17 qualified teams after ending qualifying campaigns Group A- Mali and Guinea Group B- Burkina Faso ( as Uganda, Malawi battle for ticket) Group C-Ghana ( as South Africa, Malawi battle for ticket) Group D- Gabon and Gambia Group E- Morocco ( as Mauritania, Burundi battle for ticket) Group F- Cameroon ( as Cape Verde, Rwanda battle for ticket) Group G-Egypt and Comoro Group H- Algeria and Zimbabwe Group I- Senegal ( as Congo, Guinea Bissau battle for ticket) Group J-Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea Group K- Cote d’Ivoire ( as Ethiopia, Madagascar battle for ticket) Group L- Nigeria ( as Benin,
