EAC rally behind Stars

TANZANIA: IT is all eyes on the ‘Taifa Stars’ on the Africa Cup of Nations  (AFCON) as they hoist the East African Community  (EAC) flag.

The Tanzania Football National Team are in Ivory Coast and are due to lock horns with Morocco in their first AFCON finals assignment at Stade de San Pédro on Wednesday.

There have been a flood of good luck wishes coming to the national team ahead of their campaign, including the Cabinet secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts of Kenya, Ababu Namwamba.

He wished Tanzania, the sole representative of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) zone, the best of luck during the campaign.

Tanzania is placed in Group F with Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.

“East Africa is represented by Tanzania in this AFCON, therefore on behalf of the East African Pamoja Team; we want to wish Tanzania the best of luck in these AFCON finals.

“We will be cheering the whole of Africa but we will be reserving a very special cheer and very special player for Taifa Stars as our representative of our region,” the cheerful Namwamba said.

Taifa Stars will start their 2023 AFCON campaign in Group F against Morrocco on January 17th, then Zambia on January 21st before battling the DRC on January 24th.

The 24-team format will see the top two in each of the six groups qualify for the last 16, with the four best third-placed sides also progressing to the knockout stages where the overall winners will pick up 7m us dollars  (equivalent to 17,580,591,000/-) in prize money.

This year’s AFCON campaign marks the 34th edition with teams wrestling for the lucrative trophy.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in June and July last year but has been shifted to this year to avoid the rainy season in West Africa that is why it is referred to as AFCON 2023.