The Tanzania men’s team redeemed their image and restored some national pride in the on-going AfHF President’s Cup competition with a hard fought 1-0 victory over Zambia in the only match of day 2 of competition. Having lost their opening match to Malawi, it was important for them to win this particular match to assure themselves of any possibility of playing for honours in the final.
In a keenly contested match, the Zambians, most of whom were part of the team that placed 7th in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games Nanjing, China, took the game to their host with the sole objective of winning. The Tanzanians, reeling from the earlier defeat, were in defiant mood and responded with equal thrust. The first quarter of the match was therefore quite tense and remained deadlocked at 0-0. The second quarter retained the same pattern until a minute from the end when Sunny D’Souza struck from open play to put Tanzania in front. The goal brings Sunny’s tally to two, having scored against Malawi in the opening match.
Though the Zambians kept raiding the goals area of the Tanzanians, the score-line stayed the same for the third and fourth quarters. This handed Tanzania a famous and well celebrated victory that keeps them in the hunt for the trophy and a place in the Africa Cup for Nations Competition to be held later in the year in South Africa.
Friday will be a rest day and the action will resume on Saturday with Malawi taking on Zambia at 14:30Hours in the men’s competition and Tanzania seeking to win against Zambia in their second of the best of three matches in the women’s competition. A second loss will be disastrous for Tanzania because it will eventually guarantee that Zambia win the competition and qualify for the Africa Cup for Nations to be held in South Africa in August.
