Kibaden approves new Stars striker

THE national soccer team, Taifa Stars Technical Director, Abdallah Kibaden has expressed satisfaction with the ability displayed by striker, Abdillahi Yussuf, who plies his trade with UK League Two side Mansfield Town FC.

The Mansfield striker popularly known as Adi joins Stars for the first time, after being called in the squad by head coach, Charles Boniface Mkwasa, for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers encounter against Chad.

Taifa Stars revived their hopes to qualify for the 2017 Cup of Nations finals in Gabon after defeating hosts Chad 1-0 at Idriss Mahamat Ouya Stadium in N’Djamena on Wednesday. Skipper Mbwana Samatta scored the solitary goal after 30 minutes to give Taifa Stars a vital away win that saw the Tanzanian outfit haul four points, the same as Nigeria. The team returned home yesterday and Adi joined them in training, showing glimpse of what he is capable of.

Kibaden expressed his approval of Adi’s ability yesterday, during the team’s morning training session at the TFF Karume Complex in Dar es Salaam, ahead of the 2017 AFCON return leg match against Chad to be held at the National Stadium on Easter Monday.

The legend said Adi’s ability will help the team in its campaign of battling for the Gabon finals ticket in group G. “For the few days we have seen him training with the rest of our squad, he has shown great ability and technical awareness. Personally, I’m impressed and satisfied by the player’s ability and quality and I believe he will be of great help for the team and country in general,” said Kibadeni.

The Zanzibar born striker has been added in the squad by Stars technical bench, to strengthen the team, ahead of the return leg clash. Adi appreciated his first call in the team and expressed his joy of being part of the team.

He promised not to let the country down. “I’m happy to play for my country and I promise, I will not let down my fellow Tanzanians if I get the opportunity to play,” he said. Adi join Stars KRC Genk striker and the team captain, Mbwana Samatta and DR Congo’s TP Mazembe striker, Thomas Ulimwengu, as the squad’s professionals.

The well-built striker began his career with Leicester City, for the youth and reserve teams and thereafter, passed through several clubs in England before joining his current club last year as centre forward.

He is the only African in the current club. Meanwhile, Taifa Stars central defender, Kelvin Yondani and midfielder, Mwinyi Kazimoto are in doubt of featuring for Monday’s clash after picking injuries in the first league match in N’Djamena. The duo failed to train with the rest of the team yesterday.

Yondani and Kazimoto were seen sitting at one of the National Stadium stands while their colleagues were having evening training session ahead of their match against Chad. Taifa Stars head coach, Charles Boniface Mkwasa, has set his sight on winning the return match.

Mkwasa was full of praises for his players for the good performance away from home, but reminded them on the importance of raking three more points from the upcoming fixture. “We had very difficult 90 minutes, we played under scorching and sunny condition, but we thank God we have won and now we have our minds focused on the return match on Monday,” Mkwasa said.

The Stars trainer urged the players to remain grounded and make sure they put up another strong performance and battle out for maximum points before the final two group matches, which includes Nigeria away and Egypt at home.

Another win against the Sao, as the Chad national team are nicknamed, would help the Stars stay in contention for the group’s automatic ticket to Gabon.

Egypt occupy the driver’s seat in Group G with six points from two games with the Super Eagles of Nigeria in second place on four points and Taifa Stars in third with the same number of points. Chad are bottom in the group without a point after losing three consecutive games against all the other teams in the group.

Nigeria and Egypt were due to clash yesterday at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.