THE national soccer team ‘Taifa Stars’ have an arduous task in Kampala after losing 1-0 to Uganda Cranes in the first leg match of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.
To advance to the CHAN finals, Taifa Stars must win by a big margin in Kampala, where the teams meet again in a second leg on September 3rd this year.
The only goal of Mutyaba Travis in the 87th minute was enough to finish the winning pen for Cranes on Sunday Stars must fight their lungs out to secure a ticket for the CHAN finals.
The game was intense, with all teams showing a competitive game from the defence and midfield to the attacking position.
Uganda made an attempt through Milton Kalisa in the 23rd minute after finishing Rogers Mato’s set through with a header, but Aishi Manula’s stood film and kept Taifa Stars safe.
Tanzania responded in the 41st minute through George Mpole, who took a long-range strike but failed to find the target.
The first half ended with both sides going into the break goalless.
Once the second half started, Salum Abubakar made an attempt that would have given Tanzania the lead, but it did not bear fruits.
Tanzania made another attempt in the 65th minute through Tepsi Evans’s volley, but the calm Ugandan goalkeeper Nafian Alionzi prevented the danger.
Said Kyeyune of Uganda attempted to finish a good pass made by Richard Basangwa, but he failed to aim well the target and ended up flying high above the bar.
After the attempt, the Ugandan forward Mutyaba Travis broke the deadlock in the 87th minute following his strike that passed Manula. Travis skilful outclassed the Tanzanian’s defenders as he dribbled past Mohamed Hussein, Bakari Mwanyeto and Kibwana Shomari before he struck the ball.
Daniel Lyanga scored for Tanzania in a minute, but the linesman denied a goal after ruling it offside.
Before yesterday’s game, Taifa Stars met Somalia, where both legs played here in the country.
Taifa Stars won both matches. In the first game, Abdul Sopu emerged as a hero by giving Tanzania the only goal that lasted all 90 minutes.
In the second game, Tanzania started their campaign to defend the victory through Sopu opening the scoreboard in the 34th minute.
Somalia did not give up as they seemed determined to harm the scoreboard after Farhan Ahmed’s efforts gave Somalia an equalizing goal in the 48th minute.
Tanzania extended their dominance over Somalia after Dickson Job doubled in the 65th minute through a penalty kick.