NATIONAL Beach Soccer team is likely set to climb up the FIFA World Beach Soccer rankings after it succeeded to defend the Copa Dar es Salaam 2019 championship.
The home team emerged overall winners of the competition, which climaxed recently at Coco Beach in the city after a deserved 6-3 victory over Burundi in the thrilling final of the contest.
It was the back to back triumph by the country’s envoys who last year defeated Uganda 2-1 to clinch the same title at the same venue which has helped a lot to put the home team on the international face as far as Beach Soccer is concerned.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam recently, organiser of the competition from the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Jonathan Kasano said the victory will help a lot for Tanzania to scale up the FIFA World Beach Soccer standings.
“As you know, Copa Dar es Salaam tournament was endorsed by FIFA and after the great performance shown by our team by retaining the silverware, definitely, we are going to climb up the world rankings,” Kasano said.
He added that this year’s competition was very tough basing on the nature of preparations made by respective teams which embraced the contest as such.Kasano said Tanzania team deserves to be hailed for showing determination throughout the tournament.
“Despite starting on a back foot after losing to Uganda in the opening match through spot kicks, we never gave up as we succeeded to win all the three remaining matches which made us to top the table with nine points,” Kasano remarked.
He also disclosed that the team will enter camp to start preparation for the 2020 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations to be held in Uganda, which acts as a qualifying mark for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
From the just ended competition in Dar es Salaam, which was played in the league format, Seychelles was voted the most disciplined team.
Senegal are the current champions and the most successful team in the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations after seizing the title for five times than any other team.
According to the latest FIFA World Beach Soccer rankings, Tanzania sits on 69th place, while Brazil, Russia, Italy, Portugal and Iran are the top five teams on the world ladder.
