TWIGA Stars are all ready to begin their COSAFA Women’s Championship re-conquest as they face Comoros in Port Elizabeth, South Africa today.
The country’s envoys defeated Malawi 1-0 to win the silverware last year hence they now have a difficult task to ensure that they keep it hold for the second year in a row.
On the day, Enekia Lunyemila scored the lone goal in the 64th minute off a rebound after Malawian goalie Ruth Mhango had parried the ball back into play.
However, team’s Head Coach Bakari Shime said preparations for their opening match of the competition went on well and that every player is highly motivated to win the opener.
“I want to take this chance to thank COSAFA for their trust in Tanzania teams and this happens to be our fourth year taking part in this competition, this is a good gesture.
“And for the first time, a guest side is defending the championship contrary to previous years whereby we used to come here without any title to defend,” he said.
He, however, pointed out that this year’s tournament is going to be difficult saying all teams will be targeting to defeat them as title holders.
“The good thing is that when we come here, it is an opportunity for us to learn more from advanced teams like South Africa and Zambia meaning that we will generate many important things from them,” he noted.
He further disclosed that as a team, they have strategies to be applied in order to achieve their objectives of gathering enough experience from COSAFA competition which in turn will be diverted to do well in other contests.
“If we just concentrate on retaining the title, then we will miss out on an opportunity to learn other vital things… championship can only be acquired from a good performance which is what we have to show during our stay here,” he said.
