Stars ready for Madagascar test

DAR ES SALAAM: TAIFA Stars are ready for their second AFCON 2027 Group L qualifier against Madagascar in Meknès, Morocco, despite a 2-0 defeat to Guinea-Bissau in their opening qualifier match.

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Director of Information and Communications Clifford Ndimbo said the squad had settled in Fez, where they camped ahead of today’s match at the Stade d’Honneur in Meknès.

Ndimbo explained that the team conducted two recovery sessions after arriving in Morocco, followed by an indoor session, before moving to the pitch for their final preparations.

“The squad is ready for the match. The squad is complete and everything else is going well,” Ndimbo said.

The match comes after Taifa Stars suffered a 2-0 home defeat to GuineaBissau at the New Amaan Complex in Dar es Salaam on Friday, making a positive result against Madagascar particularly important in their campaign.

“This is a very important match. We lost our first match at home against Guinea-Bissau, and now we are going into the second match against Madagascar,” he said.

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“We are taking this match very seriously. Our intention remains the same to perform well in all the remaining matches in our efforts to qualify for AFCON 2027.”

Although Tanzania have already secured a place at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations as one of the tournament’s co-hosts alongside Kenya and Uganda, Ndimbo said the qualification matches remained important to the team.

Ndimbo also confirmed that defender Bakari Mwamnyeto would not be part of the squad after being granted permission to return home because of a family emergency.