TZW
According to the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Media and Communication Officer, Clifford Ndimbo, the team currently training at the federation’s hostels in Dar es Salaam was in upbeat mood and highly spirited ready for the tournament.
CECAFA Under-17 tournament will kick off from April 1st to 15th this year in Burundian capital of Bujumbura. It will be the first time in ten years the underage regional championship will be hosted. Burundi successfully hosted and won the last edition in 2007.
CECAFA is bouncing back from a lull and is reviving some of the regional competitions they oversee. Meanwhile, the national Under- 20 football team, Ngorongoro Heroes will play two friendly matches against Morocco and Mozambique to prepare for their continental qualifiers campaign.
According to the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Media and Communication Officer, Clifford Ndimbo, Heroes who officially entered in camp in Dar es Salaam last week, will face Morocco at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, before facing Mozambique next Wednesday at the same venue.
The matches will be used for the initial preparations of the upcoming Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON qualifying match against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) slated on March 31 this year at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
The return leg encounter will be staged in Kinshasa two weeks later. Heroes squad consists 40 players which was due to be trimmed down to 30 players after one week. The guest team is expected to arrive in the country today with a contingent of 31 people, comprising 23 players and eight technical bench staff respectively.
In another development, Ndimbo said the senior national team, Taifa Stars was also making final touches to travel to Algeria for their friendly encounter against hosts on March 22nd this year. After the match, Stars will jet back in Dar es Salaam to face Congo DR in another friendly at the National Stadium on March 27th this year.
Both matches will be played on FIFA dates and will count significantly on the country’s World ranking. Ndimbo further said that the national women football team, Twiga Stars has entered camp at Mlalakuwa National Service, to prepare for their 2018 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifiers.
Twiga Stars will face Zambia’s She Polopolo on April 4th this year at the National Stadium and the return leg encounter will be staged four days later in Lusaka, Zambia. Aggregate winner of the match will progress to the next stage and will face aggregate winner of the match to pit Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The match will be played in May and winner will qualify for the finals to be held in Ghana later this year. TFF further revealed that the national Under-13 team will travel to Belgium in August this year, for a tournament that will draw together ten nations. Ndimbo said the federation was preparing modalities to form the team that will immediately start training for the event.