Taifa Stars confident ahead of clash against DR Congo

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania national football team (Taifa Stars) players have promised to fight hard in their last Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) group stage match against DR Congo,.

Taifa Stars will face DR Congo on January 24,204 at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo, Ivory Coast starting at 8pm. On the same day and time, Zambia will compete against Morocco.

The team’s chance to qualify for the last 16 will depend on whether Morocco wins against Zambia on the same day. Morocco is leading Group F with four points, while DR Congo is second with two points, and Zambia is in third place with two points as well.

Taifa Stars are at the bottom of the group with one point after playing two matches.

The team’s attacking midfielder, Simon Msuva, admitted facing a tough match against DR Congo in their final match, but he believes nothing is impossible in football.

Msuva said the match against DR Congo will be decisive as all teams in the group have a chance to qualify for the top 16. “We are sad after failing to win against Zambia; it is part of football, but that is not the end of the road as we still have another match that will decide our fate. Our target is to win the encounter,” said Msuva.

He said that DR Congo has a good team and also targets victory, but the Taifa Stars are a good team and also search for positive results.

The team’s defender, Mohammed “Tshabalala” Hussein, said the mistakes they made in the encounter against Zambia would not happen in the next crucial match.

“It will be a crucial match for us; it is the match that will decide our future in the tournament. We need to be very keen and avoid mistakes, as it has happened in the encounter against Zambia,” said Tshabalala.

On his part, the team’s tactful midfielder, Feisal “Fei Toto” Salum, said that despite the disappointing 1-1 results against Zambia, their focus is on the last match.

“It is part of the game; we made mistakes and got punished in the last minutes. I believe the technical bench will rectify all and win the last match,” said Fei Toto.

Taifa Stars interim head coach, Hemed Suleiman, said a lack of concentration allowed Zambia to equalize in the last minutes, and now they are targeting the last match against DR Congo.

“It was a difficult match. We started well by trying to push them. Then we quickly scored in the first quarter of an hour. But unfortunately, we were already trying to manage the match in the first half,” said Hemed Suleiman.