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Tag: Taifa Stars

  • Amuneke’s Taifa Stars will not be cheap – Djamel Belmadi

    Former international Emmanuel Amuneke’s Taifa Stars may be debutants to the Nations cup but they will not be cheap to handle. That was the submission of Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi.  Algeria who last won the Nations cup in 1990 have been group against Taranga Lions of Senegal, Harambee Stars of Kenya and Taifa Stars of Tanzania in Group C.

    Although Belmadi identified Senegal as the biggest challenge for his side in the group he nonetheless admitted that the debutants may turn out to be a pain in the neck.

    “We will face the biggest challenge in Senegal, who are also one of the favourites. For Kenya and Tanzania, even though these two countries have not played the AFCON for several years, they still remain opponents against whom it will be necessary to play good matches and win. We will study the teams of the group well and prepare to be at our best on the day,” he told Cafonline.

    The former Qatar coach revealed the first step is to avoid crashing out in the group stage.

    “Our goal at first is to go beyond the first round and then fight on till the final,” he enthused

    Also Read: Khutlang rues missed chances against Amuneke’s Taifa

    Desert Foxes of Algeria have a date against Taifa Stars on July 1st, their last group match of the championship. It will be a clash between Belmadi who made his debut for Algeria a year after the won the Nations cup and Amuneke who won the

    Nations cup as a player in 2004 in Tunisia. Algeria. Amuneke who coached Nigeria U-17 side and Sudanese club side  Al Khartoum SC before taking over as national team coach of Tanzania made history when he qualified the team for the Nations cup in 39 years, and will be looking forward to creating more records even as debutants.

    They will open campaign in Egypt against Senegal on Sunday, followed by a clash against Kenya on June 27 before rounding off the group stage with a fight to the finish encounter against Algeria.

  • Amuneke leads Taifa Stars to first AFCON in 39years

    Tanzania ended their 39-year wait for an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) appearance as former Super Eagles’ winger Emmanuel Amuneke guided the Taifa Stars to automatic qualification for Egypt 2019 courtesy a 3-0 home win against Uganda.

    The erstwhile Golden Eaglets manager took charge of the East African side in August and was tasked with the responsibility of developing football in the country with little expectation of making it to AFCON 2019 as Uganda and Cape Verde were rated as Group L favourites.

    However, the Nigerian did the unthinkable as he inspired the team to qualify for their first AFCON since 1980. Coincidentally, the last time the Taifa Stars played at the Africa Cup of Nations was in Nigeria.

    Tanzania went into the final group match against Uganda, knowing that a win against Cranes will take them through to the 2019 AFCON while hoping Lesotho fails to win away to Cape Verde.

    Simon Msuwa gave Tanzania a first half lead against Uganda and six minutes into the second half, Erasto Nyoni scored a penalty to make it 2-0 before Aggrey Morris completed the rout. The victory was made even sweeter as news filtered in that the Lesotho versus Cape Verde match had ended goalless.

    Uganda had never conceded any goals in the group before the game against Tanzania and it was refreshing for fans that Amunike led the Taifa Stars to a comprehensive victory in a derby game which earned them an AFCON ticket.

    Uganda finished on top of Group L with 13points, Tanzania came in second with eighth points, Lesotho sit third with six points and Cape Verde is bottom with five points.

  • Khutlang rues missed chances against Amuneke’s Taifa

     

    At a time when former international and coach of Taifa Stars of Tanzania Emmanuel Amuneke is full of regrets over defeat by Lesotho, Crocodiles’ forward Tumelo Khutlang is still brooding over missed chances that would have compounded the woes of Taifa stars.

    The 23 year old ,missed not just one but two begging chances including 21st minute one on one encounter with Tanzania goalkeeper Aishi Manula.

    Khutlang has teammate Nkau Lerotholi to thank for saving the day follow his goal in the closing minutes of the match.

    The victory boosts Lesotho’s chances of qualifying for a first African Cup of Nations. They are now on level points with Tanzania and will need to better their rivals’ result in the last game to qualify for the tournament as group runners-up.

    Meanwhile the defeat by Taifa Stars has continued to generate debate in Daesalam with some fans blaming Amuneke for what they dubbed poor selection. The Nigerian has however received the support of the Minister of Culture, Arts and Sports Harrison Mwekyembe who described the defeat as a temporary setback. “We lost the battle not the war” he said.

    Amuneke who however remains committed to picking one of the tickets to Cameroon 2019 admitted that his team played below par.  “We are really sorry letting Tanzania down, we failed to meet their expectation” he said. The former Al Khartoum SC of Sudan coach however added that they will make amends ahead of the must win final battle against Cranes of Uganda March next year.

  • Amuneke hailed as Taifa stars hold Cranes in Kampala

    Indications that Taifa stars of Tanzania have adopted a fight to the finish approach towards the 2019 AFCON qualifiers emerged Saturday as  the team held the Cranes of Uganda to a goalless draw at the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala.

    The Emmanuel Amuneke tutored side stood their ground from the first blast of the whistle even as the homers fought tooth and nail to earn victory to no avails.

    Taifa Stars players and officials who were tickled by the excellent result which went contrary to permutations in some quarters that the team will lose away, lifted Amuneke who led Nigeria’s Under 17 side to the world cup victory in 2015 in Chile, off the ground in celebration of the vital point gained in Kampala.

    Prior to Saturday’s tie Tanzania were placed third in the group with Cranes of Uganda leading the pack with three points followed by Lesotho and Tanzania on a point each while Cape Verde Islands with no point.

    Saturday’s result has moved Tanzania the second position with two points behind Uganda with four points.

    Tanzania had held Lesotho to a 1-1 draw before the coming of Amuneke and will next host Cape Verde Islands on October

    10th a match which the Taifa stars will be hoping to win with panache especially with Amuneke’s determination to turn the fortunes of the team. Lesotho hosts Cape Verde Islands tomorrow.

  • AFCON: Ikeme saves Eagles in goalless draw

    AFCON: Ikeme saves Eagles in goalless draw

    Tanzania’s Taifa Stars produced a stunning second half performance but failed to do enough to stun three-time African champions, Nigeria in the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying match played on Saturday.
    Saturday’s game at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam which finished 0-0 was Sunday Oliseh’s first after he replaced former coach, Stephen Keshi.
    He opted to hand 29-year-old goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme his competitive debut in place of Vincent Enyeama who asked to be excused from the tie following the death of his mother.
    It turned out to be a master stroke as the Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper made no less than six stunning saves to prevent the Eagles from suffering a humiliating defeat.
    FSV Mainz defender, Leon Balogun failed to recover from an ankle injury and was subsequently replaced by Solomon Kwambe.
    William Troost-Ekong, Kenneth Omeruo and Kingsley Madu were the other defenders handed starts against the Taifa Stars.
    Obiora Nwankwo started ahead of the back four while Ahmed Musa, Moses Simon and Emmanuel Emenike started in more advanced positions ahead of midfielders, Izunna Uzochukwu and Lukman Haruna.

  • Oliseh ready for ‘aggressive’ Tanzania

    Oliseh ready for ‘aggressive’ Tanzania

    Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has said he expects surprises on Saturday from the Taifa Stars of Tanzania, whose style of play he describes as “aggressive.”

    The Super Eagles watched video clips of recent Tanzania matches on Tuesday night, africanFootball.com reports.

    “We have watched the video of Tanzania. They are a very aggressive team,” Oliseh told africanFootball.com.

    “We might get some surprises during the game and we expect anything from the side going by what we have seen in the tapes.”

    Tanzania trained in Turkey preparatory to African Nations Cup qualifier and the team will line up players from the country’s league with a sprinkling of foreign-based strikers led by the TP Mazembe pair of Thomas Ulimwengu and Mbwana Samata.

    This will also be Oliseh’s first match in charge of the three-time African champions and despite the huge expectations on his shoulders, the former Nigeria skipper said there would be only three outcomes on Saturday in Dar es Salaam.

    “There are three things that can happen in a game – we win, we draw or we lose,” he said.

     

  • Early kick off for Nigeria, Tanzania AFCON clash

    Early kick off for Nigeria, Tanzania AFCON clash

    Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania will be an early kick off on September 5, Goal reports.

    The game will commence at 2:30pm (West African Time/local time in Nigeria), the Nigeria Football Federation has said.

    The Super Eagles visits the Taifa Stars for the group’s second game at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam in an encounter to be played on natural turf at 4:30pm local time in the East African country.

    The NFF said it received notice about the schedule from the Tanzanian Football Federation’s president, Jamal Malinzi.

    The Super Eagles will fly out from Abuja on a chartered aircraft to Tanzania next week.