Stars backlash worries Micho

Dar es Salaam. Taifa Stars intent to overturn a 1-0 deficit in tomorrow’s Africa Nations Championship (Chan) second leg is already sending ripples of shock to the hosts—Uganda Cranes.

Whether it be mind games or not-Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic has expressed his dissatisfaction with his team’s upfront firepower heading into the showdown.

Having lost the first leg, Stars head coach Kim Poulsen has been sharpening his strikers’ finishing skills and before flying to Kampala on Wednesday, the Dane said nothing would distract his players, hoping to pull off one of the biggest upsets at Namboole Stadium.

It is a tall order though, considering that the Cranes have never lost a game on their courtyard in any competition since 2005. However, Poulsen believes that soccer has no logic.

“Nothing is going to distract us, we have prepared well for this match and if record is anything to go by, we have already lost, but it does not go that way, thus we have our chance and we will seize it,” he said.

However, Stars face a late fitness test for their midfielder Hamis Mcha who has sustained an injury, which the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) information officer, Boniface Wambura, hopes the Azam man will recover on time to face the regional giants.

All players are psychologically motivated ahead of the match and we hope that Stars will carry the day.

Mcha has a minor injury, but we hope that he will recover and play on Saturday (tomorrow),” said Wambura.

While Micho welcomes Dennis Guma’s strike against the Taifa Stars a fortnight ago, the Serbian insists the goal scoring problem persists, and he has tasked his boys to address it tomorrow.

“We struggled to score while in Tanzania and the very problem also happened in the trial games against Uganda Kobs last Friday,” said Micho as he addressed players yesterday.

 “So it’s either now or never to solve the problem. I know you have the ability to score goals but confidence matters a lot in this. If you have confidence goals will ooze like water, when you don’t, I will call it suicide bombing,”said the Serb.

Stars head into the game without two of their dependable players in defender Shomari Kapombe who is in Holland for trials and midfielder Mwinyi Kazimoto who disappeared from the camp.

Should Tanzania win by at least a 2-0 margin, they will qualify for Chan to be held in South Africa next year.