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Ngorongoro Heroes suffer Kenya defeat in AFCON qualifiers opener

TANZANIA’s Under-20 national team suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Kenya’s Rising Stars in their opening match
TANZANIA's Under-20 national team, the Ngorongo Heroes, in their opening match of the CECAFA Qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the KMC Stadium

DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA’s Under-20 national team, the Ngorongo Heroes, suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Kenya’s Rising Stars in their opening match of the CECAFA Qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the KMC Stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

It was the opening fixture of the CECAFA qualifiers whose finals will be played at the same venue on October 20th when the two finalists will book a ticket to represent CECAFA in Under-20 AFCON finals.

Kenya took an early lead through Kelvin Wangaya’s freekick in the 24th minute and despite Tanzania’s efforts to equalise before halftime, the visitors maintained their advantage.

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Efforts by Tanzania to balance the scoreboard before halftime were unsuccessful despite a promising attempt by Sheikhan Khamis just before the break.

The visitors went into halftime with a lead, while the hosts faced a challenging task in the second half.

In the second half, despite several attempts, Kenya extended their lead through a powerful long-range volley by Andres Omondi.

Trailing 2-0, Tanzania remained composed and continued to search for scoring opportunities, which eventually paid off in the 76th minute when Rahim Shomary pulled one back with a set-piece goal.

But this was not enough as the visitors defended well to grab maximum points on their first fixture of the campaign.

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Tanzania is placed in group A alongside Sudan, Rwanda, Djibouti and Kenya while group B consist of Uganda, South Sudan, Burundi and Ethiopia.

Today, two group B fixtures will be played as South Sudan face Burundi at KMC Stadium before witnessing Uganda hosting Ethiopia at Azam Complex.

Tomorrow, Tanzania welcome Djibouti at KMC Stadium and later, Sudan will entertain Rwanda at Azam Complex in two thrilling group A games.

However, according to the regulations of the qualifiers, the best two teams in each group progresses to the semis and the two finalists directly book a ticket to represent CECAFA in the AFCON finals.

Tanzania last qualified for the Under-20 AFCON in 2021 whose finals were held in Mauritania and the country’s envoys were packed in group C together with Morocco, Gambia and Ghana.

They finished at the bottom of the group with one point from three matches obtained after a 1-1 draw against Gambia.