CECAFA U-20 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFIERS: ‘No room for slow starts’

DAR ES SALAAM: NGORONGORO Heroes have been warned there will be no room for another slow start when they face Burundi in today’s CECAFA U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers semifinal at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania have arrived at the last four impressively, scoring seven goals without conceding in their opening two matches. They began their campaign with a commanding 3-0 victory over Rwanda before following it with a convincing 4-0 win over Ethiopia.

But despite the emphatic results, head coach Mario Campesino believes his side must raise their performance to another level if they are to overcome a Burundi side that has also made a strong start to the tournament.

Campesino admitted that Ngorongoro Heroes were slow out of the blocks in their previous match, spending the opening 15 to 20 minutes “out of the match” before eventually finding their rhythm against Ethiopia.

“We started the match a bit sleepy. The first 15 to 20 minutes we were out of the match. After that, we started to be more focused, we started to do our things and the match was coming to our side,” Campesino said.

That sluggish opening is something the coach will be keen to eliminate against Burundi, with the semifinal presenting a different level of pressure and stakes. For Campesino, the strength of his team lies in its ability to cope with different situations during a match.

He wants his players to be comfortable defending in a low block or middle block, pressing high, launching offensive transitions and also controlling possession when required.

Against their previous opponents, Tanzania demonstrated their threat in transition, with Campesino pointing to two moments when they quickly turned defensive situations into decisive attacks.

However, the coach also identified weaknesses that need to be corrected before tomorrow’s showdown, particularly in the buildup.

“We need to improve the way that we handle the ball in the buildup and not take the risks that we took in the first half,” he said.

According to Campesino, some players occupied the wrong positions, leaving insufficient support for the buildup and making it difficult for the team to progress the ball cleanly.

The coach, however, remains patient with his young squad, stressing that mistakes are part of the development process.

“The players are in a developing age and, normally, sometimes we have our own distance, but we are here to improve,” he said.

Burundi, meanwhile, have emerged as another formidable semifinal opponent.

They were the first team to qualify for the last four after opening their campaign with a 4-0 victory over South Sudan before securing their second successive win by beating Kenya 2-0.

Like Tanzania, Burundi have therefore reached the semifinal without conceding a goal, setting up a meeting between two sides that have shown both defensive discipline and attacking efficiency.

The statistics make tomorrow’s encounter particularly intriguing, but Campesino knows that past performances will count for little once the two teams’ step onto the Uhuru Stadium pitch.

“We still can do better and we have to do better if we want to win the semifinal,” he said.