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 By the Citizen Reporter
The national soccer team, Taifa Stars, arrived yesterday from Algeria with the head coach, Jan Poulsen, warning his side of complacency.
Plucky Taifa Stars mustered a 1-1 draw away to Algeria on Friday. They will take on Morocco next month at the National Stadium.
“My players did a laudable job in Algiers, it was a very tough match, but they held their nerve to get the result we all wanted.
“Despite getting positive results, I ask my players not to be satisfied because we still have a rough road ahead.
“Morocco are among the African elite teams, therefore we’ve to be disciplined enough to beat them…we’ve to use our home advantage wisely,” the Danish coach said.
After playing Morocco, Tanzania will wind up their Group D first round matches next March when they face Central Africa Republic.
Following a deserved draw against the highly extolled Algerians, Taifa Stars sponsors Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) are set to re-launch a “Help Stars Win” drive meant to sensitise fans to support their team.
"We had a similar drive during last year’s CHAN qualifiers and it proved helpful, so we’re re-launching it ahead of the Morocco encounter.
“It’s a long time since our team took part in the AFCON finals (1980), we hope through this drive, our players won’t let us down…I believe we’ve all it takes to qualify for the finals,” said the SBL public relations manager, Teddy Mapunda.
SBL, who spent over Sh100 million to transport the team to Algiers, sponsors Taifa Stars jointly with the National Microfinance Bank.
"The team needs more than what we offer, thus we call upon others to come forward and support Taifa Stars,” she added.
Tanzania are second in the group ranking followed by Morocco and Central Africa Republic who fought to a barren draw on Saturday.
Central Africa Republic are on paper the weakest link in the passage to Gabon-Equatorial Guinea finals, however, to have any chance, Poulsen's men should steal points from the two North Africa giants.
GROUP D STANDING
Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Algeria 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
Tanzania 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
Morocco 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
C Africa 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
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