Serengeti Boys step up AYC preps

Dar es Salaam. The national under-17 soccer team, Serengeti Boys, have moved up a gear in preparation for their 2017 African Youth Championship (AYC) qualifier against South Africa next month.

The Tanzanian boys face a tricky double-legged encounter, hoping to break South Africa’s dominance over them and cruise into the third round.

Serengeti Boys will travel to South Africa for the first leg on August 6 before meeting in the decisive second leg tie at the Azam Complex two weeks later.

Head coach Bakari Shime, who has enjoyed considerable success with the national youth side, has expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the players at their Karume Memorial Stadium training base.

“The boys are doing quite well in training, something which makes us believe that we will sail through to the next round at the expense of the Amajmbos,” said Shime.

The team is expected to pitch a camp in Madagascar tentatively from next week before heading off south for the match.

The coach, who works closely with the overall national youth teams coach, Kim Poulsen, hope the Madagascar weather will help the team when they fly to South Africa.

“The Madagascar weather is more or less similar to that of South Africa, so it is our belief that it will help the team significantly,” he said.

 Serengeti Boys booked a date with the Amajimbos after seeing off Seychelles on a 9-0 goal aggregate last weekend.

South Africa dumped out Serengeti Boys during the qualifiers for the 2015 AYC on a 4-0 goal aggregate. The overall winner of the two- legged match will face the winner between Namibia and Congo-Brazzaville. 

South Africa had an easy ride into the second round following the withdrawal of their opponents while Namibia eliminated Botswana on 3-2 on aggregate.

The winners of the third round will qualify for the 2017 AYC finals planned for Madagascar and should Serengeti Boys sail though and reach the semifinal stage, they will automatically have the ticket for the U-17 World Cup in India..