NATIONAL women teams Head Coach Bakari Shime is adamant that Tanzania is capable of going places in women football.
The Under-17 and 20 teams have stepped up to trainings at Jakaya M Kikwete Youth Park for 2020 Women World Cup qualifiers.
It will all start with the U-17 women team who will play against Uganda on March 1st at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam while the return leg match will be held in Kampala, Uganda on March 14th and finals to be held in India.
To reach this far, Tanzania claimed an aggregate 6-1 win over Burundi whereas Uganda recorded a 5-1 aggregate victory against Ethiopia.
On the other hand, the U-20 women squad will travel to face Senegal in the first leg encounter on March 20th with the reverse tie set on March 27th at the National Stadium in the city and its finals will be staged in Costa Rica and Panama.
The Tanzanian U-20 side reached the next round after beating neighbours Uganda 2-1 in the return leg to advance 4-2 on aggregate.
Tanzania had registered the same scoreline during the first meeting staged in Dar es Salaam.
The teams had a break after the qualification games against Burundi and Uganda and coach Shime urged Tanzanians to support the national teams.
“It is important for Tanzanians to come out and support the teams and motivate our players to win their next hurdles at Women World Cup qualifiers. “The task ahead is still big for both U-17 and 20 sides. If we win against Uganda we will be closer to qualification for the U-17 finals, for U-20 we will have two more hurdles to clear,” Shime said.
Shime is looking forward to develop a strong women national team that will battle for qualification into the 2023 Senior Women World Cup.
“Senior Women World Cup is on horizon soon after U17 and U20 games, we will begin battling for ticket to World Cup qualification. We have nothing to worry, as our programme will build a strong team within two years,” he said.
“Majority of the players I have called for the national team belongs to youth teams (U17 and U20), only 11 to 12 of my players belong to senior teams. Having more youth in Twiga Stars, assures our national team to be strong and competitive to qualify and compete for world cup in 2023.”
