Mkwasa now targets home win

'
THE national soccer team, Taifa Stars, head coach Charles Boniface Mkwasa has set his sight on winning the return match of the African Cup of Nations (Afcon), against Chad at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Monday.

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 D’jamena 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, who are due to host Egypt today.

Mkwasa was full of praises for his players for the winning 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.

Mkwasa also called on Tanzanians to come out in big number and cheer their boys at the 60,000-seater arena on Easter Monday.

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.

Taifa Stars opened their AFCON qualifying campaign on a wrong foot after losing 3-0 to the Pharaohs of Egypt in June, last year before recording their first point when they played out a goalless draw against Nigeria.

According to a statement issued by the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), yesterday, the team was expected to land back around 2:00am midnight.

“After arriving in Dar es Salaam, the Taifa Stars squad will go straight to the residential camp to prepare for the return match,” read the TFF statement.

A total of 16 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including Gabon who qualified automatically as hosts. The group winners and two best overall runners-up will qualify for the tournament.

When determining the best runners-up, the group of the host nation (where only matches between three teams are counted for the standings) is not considered, as well as any group where only three teams are left due to withdrawal of one team.