Delight as Stars break Afcon jinx

What you need to know:

The Tanzanian boys beat Uganda Cranes 3-0 in an exciting Group L at the National Stadium to join teams that are through to finals to be held in Egypt in June.

Dar es Salaam. The national soccer team, Taifa Stars, qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals for the first time in 39 years yesterday.

The Tanzanian boys beat Uganda Cranes 3-0 in an exciting Group L at the National Stadium to join teams that are through to finals to be held in Egypt in June.

Simon Msuva, who plays for Diffaael-Jadid in Algeria, opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a close range shot for a 1-0 half time lead.

Five minutes into the second half, defender Erasto Nyoni shot fans into wild celebrations when he made it 2-0 for the hosts through a well-struck penalty.

Stars were awarded the penalty after Uganda Cranes defender handled the ball in the penalty box in desperate efforts to clear a shot by Mbwana Samatta.

Nyoni made no mistake with it, sending goalkeeper Dennis Onyango the wrong way.

From then on, Stars took command of the game and Aggrey Morris hit a final pin on Uganda Cranes coffin with in the 57th minute with a superb header.

The result saw Stars go two points clear ahead of second-placed Lesotho, who were forced to barren draw by Cape Verde in Praia at the same time.