Queens confront Burundi in warm-up for Cecafa tourney

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania Mainland women soccer team, Kilimanjaro Queens, clash with their Burundi counterparts today in a friendly match ahead of the 2016 CECAFA Women Championship.
The Queens, who are on the way to Jinja, Uganda for the re-introduced tournament, face the Burundians at Kaitaba Stadium in Bukoba.
The Queens have been drawn in group B together with Rwanda and Ethiopia. Their opening match will be against Rwanda on September 11 on Sunday.
Group A comprises hosts Uganda, Zanzibar, Kenya and Burundi.
Speaking on the eve of the match, the Queens head coach, Sebastian Nkoma, said the match will be a perfect test for his girls and was looking forward to a positive result.
Nkoma said his players were in the right frame of mind and that they have promised to beat the Burundians.
“We have a limited time of preparation, but I believe that the match against Burundi will be enough for the team before the tournament kicks off in Jinja at the weekend,” Nkoma said.
“All players at the camp are in top shape and cannot wait to take on Burundi. There is an air of expectation and hopefully, the girls will make us proud.”
The coach added: “A win on Thursday (today) will help them boost their confidence because I know it will be tough in Jinja.”
The Kilimanjaro Queens side comprises players who blossomed the Airtel Raising Stars and Copa Coca Cola youth tournaments.
“Many players in this team are products of the youth tournaments. Some of them have played for the senior team (Twiga Stars) and the Under-20 side, so I have good feeling that we can even win the championship,” he added.
“In order to win the title, we will have to take every match seriously and avoid underrating any opponent. Yes, we are rated highly in the Cecafa region, but we need to show that on the pitch.”
The regional tournament returns after three decades of hiatus.