Serengeti Boys converge as hopes for 2017 finals soar

Serengeti Boys players celebrate after scoring against South Africa during their 2017 African Youth Championship qualifying match at the Azam Complex last year. PHOTO |FILE

What you need to know:

  • The Tanzanian boys were booted out of the championship by Congo-Brazzaville, but after lodging a complaint over age cheating, all indications now point to the latter’s disqualification.

Dar es Salaam. The national Under-17 team, Serengeti Boys, will start a residential training camp on Sunday to hone their skills ahead of the 2017 African Youth Championship (AYC) slated for April.

The Tanzanian boys were booted out of the championship by Congo-Brazzaville, but after lodging a complaint over age cheating, all indications now point to the latter’s disqualification.

Caf had summoned a Congolese player, Langa-Lesse Bercy, suspected to have altered his birth date to go to Cairo for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test.

However, the Congolese FA defied the Caf directive, which means they have no chance of featuring at the forthcoming finals whose hosts will be announced later.

Responding to the situation, the Tanzania Football association (TFF) has decided to summon the players for training as they wait for a communiqué from the African soccer governing body.

An impeccable TFF insider, who sought anonymity, confirmed to The Citizen yesterday that the team would start training on Sunday, for they believe Caf will rule in favour of Tanzania.

He disclosed that the provisional Serengeti Boys squad will comprise 36 players, 16 being new faces from the recently concluded Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) at the Karume Memorial Stadium.

“We have been following how things unfold about our complaint to Caf and we hope that our prayers are seemingly heard,” said the insider.

“Due to Congo’s failure to act in accordance with the Caf order, we believe that we have a chance and therefore, we must start preparing early instead of waiting for the official communication, which may come in late.”

He added that after a few weeks of training, the team will be sent abroad for further training. He, however, fell short of disclosing the country they have earmarked for the camp.

“We have good feeling that the Serengeti Boys will be approved for the 2017 finals. They will first train here for two weeks or so before flying abroad where they will train and play build-up matches,” he said.

According to him, the team’s technical bench, which is under coach Bakari Shime and technical advisor Kim Poulsen, has already set the a training programme for the boys.

TFF youth development committee chairman Ayoub Nyenzi confirmed that Serengeti Boys would start training on Sunday.