Stars out to trounce The Cranes in Afcon crucial encounter
Taifa Stars captain Mbwana Samatta controls the ball during a training session at Boko Beach Veterans grounds in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | MICHAEL MATEMANGA
What you need to know:
- Amunike promises that Taifa Stars will put on a wondrous performance against The Cranes who also target victory to maintain their unbeaten run in group L
Dar es Salaam. Taifa Stars today play against Uganda’s The Cranes at the National Stadium.
The match has been scheduled to start at 6pm and is expected to be thrilling as both sides have been well prepared.
The match will be officiated by Moroccans Noureddine El Jaafari who will be the centre referee, with Hicham Ait Abbou and Yahya Nouali being his first and second assistants respectively.
Taifa Stars are camped in the city. The Cranes have already qualified for the Afcon finals to be held in Cairo, Egypt, on June 21 and July 19. They camped in Cairo where they did play a series of friendlies. Taifa Stars are the third after collecting five points. Lesotho have also collected five points and are the second.
Cape Verde are at the bottom with four points. A win to Lesotho will make them qualify even if Taifa Stars win the encounter against Uganda. Soccer fans are expected to turn up en masse to cheer Taifa Stars as an encouragement to them to beat their rivals. Taifa Stars head coach Emmanuel Amunike said the players were in a high morale ahead of the match and their target was to collect all three points.
Amunike hopes that the players will make football fans happy. Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa will be the chief guest of the encounter.
The Nigerian technician promised that Taifa Stars would put on a wondrous performance against Ugandans, who also target victory to maintain their unbeaten run in group L. The Cranes have collected 10 points and are yet to lose a single match in the group. Taifa Stars will be under the captain Mbwana Samatta, who plays for KRC Genk of Belgium; Saimon Msuva, who features for Difaa El Jadida of Morocco, Thomas Ulimwengu (JS Saoura) and John Bocco.
The backline will be under goalkeeper Aishi Manula, Hassan Kessy, Gadiel Michael, Kelvin Yondani, Erasto Nyoni and Aggrey Morris. The team also has other prominent players such as Feisal Salum, Himid Mao, Jonas Mkude, Farid Mussa, Yahya Zayd, Shaaban Chilunda and Rashid Mandawa.The Cranes coach Sebastien Desabre insists that he wants best results to maintain the team’s unbeaten run.
