THE
Under-17 national team coach Bakari Shime is determined to lead
Tanzania to the first ever African Youth Championship finals after
seeing off South Africa with a 2-0 win on Sunday.
Goals from Mohammed Abdallah and Muhsin Makame were enough for
Tanzania’s Serengeti Boys to knock out South Africa’s Amajimbos and seal
a date with Congo at the final round of the qualifiers.
The Tanzanian youngsters advanced to the final qualifying round of the
continental youth championship on 3-1 aggregate victory after playing
out a 1-1 draw in the reverse in Johannesburg two week ago.
Speaking after the game, Shime hailed his boys for putting up
industrious performance despite playing a man down for the entire second
half. “Congratulations to my players for the brave performance, we
played well and deserved the victory. Now we’re going to prepare for the
coming game hoping that we can win and make it to the finals,” said
Shime.
“I expected a tough game after we managed to secure 1-1 draw away. We
knew that our opponents will come pushing to score, but I am happy that
we managed to secure the crucial victory and progress,” he added.
Abdallah scored the opener on 34 minutes converting a Yohana Mkomola
cross from the left but just before the break, the Boys suffered a blow
after Alli Ng’anzi was sent off after a reckless foul on an opponent.
Shime hailed his players’ spirit in the second half, in which the South
African side poured men forward in search of the equalising goal before
the hosts caught up their visitors on the counter, with Makame wrapping
up the score in the 84th minute.
“Having a man down for the whole second half was not easy for my boys
because it was their first time to play in less number. But it is good
for them because they learnt something,” he said.
“We are now looking forward to the next round to see if we can achieve
our dreams.” On his side, South Africa’s U-17 head coach Molefi Ntseki
had this to say; “We knew from the beginning that we had a tough task
away.
We tried our best, but it was not easy as the Tanzanian squad was well
shaped in defence and defended well.” “I made a few substitutions in the
second half after the host lost one man; unfortunately we could not
score.
Football is full of surprise now, and big teams also lose to small
teams,” he added. Meanwhile, the Minister for Information, Youth,
Culture, Arts and Sports, Nape Nnauye commended Serengeti Boys for their
progress into the next round and pledged more government’s support
towards the team.
The Sports minister, who joined thousands of Tanzanians who turned to
the Azam Complex venue to cheer up the Boys, said the government in
collaboration with the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) would ensure
the team gets good preparations ahead of their final qualifying fixture.
Serengeti Boys will entertain Congo for a place in the AYC finals in Madagascar early next year.
Tanzania will host the first leg on September 16, with the return leg
due two weeks later. Congo eliminated Namibia 5-1 on aggregate,
following a 3-0 win on Sunday.
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