Serengeti Boys warned to guard against complacency

Dar es Salaam. Serengeti Boys head coach Bakari Shime has warned his Under-17 boys to guard against complacency ahead of the 2017 African Youth Championship second leg match against South Africa.

The Tanzanian boys will square up against the Amajimbos at the Azam Complex on Sunday with the former boasting an away goal. They played out a 1-1 draw in South Africa 10 days ago.

Sensing that complacency is creeping in the team, Shime reminded Serengeti Boys that they are still far from booking their place in the third round of the AYC qualifiers.

“Yes, we have an away goal advantage and we are happy that we accomplished part of our mission in South Africa, but the fight is not over as we still have to prepare well for the Sunday decider,” the coach said.

“It is natural for complacency to creep in when you have an advantage, but we should not go with the mentality that it is an easy fixture, we shall end up losing.

“We know they have a good team, so it our duty to come up with the right approach to the match and play with the right attitude and respect our opponents, this is football, so there no room for being complacent.”

Serengeti Boys will head into the pitch needing a victory or goalless draw to sail through the third round where they will meet the winner of the match pitting Namibia against Congo next month.

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.

The team has been training at the Karume Memorial Stadium for the past week and Shime is keeping his fingers crossed for Serengeti Boys to avoid injuries to key players.