Tanzania ready for COSAFA Beach Soccer
TANZANIA: THE national Beach Soccer team Head Coach Boniface Pawasa said he is confident that his side will stamp success at the COSAFA Beach Soccer Championship.
Tanzania will launch the championship with a tense match by hosting Angola at South Beach Arena in Durban, South Africa on Sunday.
Thereafter, the country’s envoys will interface with Mozambique at the same venue on Monday before winding up their Group B assignment by facing Morocco on March 20th. Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday, Pawasa insisted that they have had successful drills, adding that his players are in good shape for the competition.
“To be honest, the morale among players in the team is high and we are looking forward to doing well and possibly winning the COSAFA Beach Soccer title and bringing it home.
“We have injected some new players in the squad as one way to improve efficiency and competitiveness among players and we are ready to represent well the nation,” Pawasa said.
He also said they had enough time to analyse their opponents by looking at the way they play in terms of how they attack and defend as well as their passing accuracy. Again, the coach disclosed that the squad of 14 players including seven technical bench members was due to leave the country yesterday night via Ethiopia en route to South Africa.
“We expect to arrive in Durban, South Africa tomorrow (today) at around 7:00 pm ready for the championship,” he said, while pleading with stakeholders to invest in Beach Soccer noting that currently they do not have official sponsors. “We request stakeholders to come aboard and invest in Beach Soccer… until now, we have no official sponsor that is why I take this opportunity to appeal for them to partner with us,” he said.
Tanzania and Morocco are featured at the contest as guest teams while Saudi Arabia is the only non-African side competing at the championship for the first time. Group A consist of hosts South Africa, Malawi, Seychelles and Saudi Arabia with all eight teams battling to lift high the COSAFA Beach Soccer title.
