National soccer team (Taifa Stars) players train ahead of the Cosafa Cup tournament. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Taifa Stars side must win in the encounter in order to qualify for the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Apart from Tanzania and Malawi, other sides in Group A, the others are Angola and Mauritius. Only the top team will qualify to proceed to the knockout stage. The top team in Group A will play South Africa next Sunday.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s Taifa Stars today face an uphill task as they play against Malawi’s The Flames in the opening match of the Cosafa Cup at Moruleng Stadium in North West Provice, South Africa.
Taifa Stars side must win in the encounter in order to qualify for the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Apart from Tanzania and Malawi, other sides in Group A, the others are Angola and Mauritius. Only the top team will qualify to proceed to the knockout stage. The top team in Group A will play South Africa next Sunday.
Taifa Stars players are optimistic of a win in the encounter despite the fact that they did not train intensively ahead of the match.
Team’s head coach Salum Mayanga said his players were in the right frame of mind heading into the match and declared the side ready to maul their Malawian counterparts.
“Everything is okay at the camp as every player is eager to face Malawi. They are simply in a great shape and I believe we will come out smiling,” said Mayanga.
Team captain Himid Mao was confident that they won’t let down Tanzanians in this key first encounter, saying they take it seriously. Mao said they were committed with the team’s victory in order to inch closer to the title.
He asked all Tanzanians to support their team, particularly extend moral support to players.
“We are in good form and we don’t underrate our opponents. We expect the toughest match because the Malawian squad is build up with the best players with lots of exposure.
We meet to stretch our muscles if we want to be the top side in Group A. Our target it to qualify for the quarter final stage.
“We want to appear on the list of the quarter final which already has other tasty fixtures lined up involving Botswana and Zambia while Namibia will play against Lesotho.
The host nation, South Africa, and Swaziland are on standby and will face winners of Group A and Group B respectively.
This is the third time for Tanzania to compete in the tournament. Its first time was in 1997 and later in 2015, with Comoros Islands having declined to take part this year. The Tanzanian outfit performed poorly last time out when they lost all their three group matches.
Taifa Stars fell 1-0 to Swaziland in their opening game as well as 2-0 defeat against Madagascar that dashed their hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
A 1-0 loss to Lesotho in the final group match meaning they packed their bags without a win and without scoring a single goal.
