adminDAR ES SALAAM. — Tanzania have been boosted by the news that their striking duo of Mbwana Samata and Thomas Ulimwengu will be available for the Nations Cup tie against Zimbabwe tomorrow. Tanzania Football Federation president Jamal Malinzi tweeted yesterday that the duo had been secured from their club TP Mazembe and will arrive in the country today ahead of tomorrow’s tie.
Samata and Ulimwengu are expected to play for Mazembe in their Champions League tie in Sudan today and will fly straight after the match.
Malinzi thanked Mazembe president Moise Katumbi for giving the players the greenlight to play this weekend after Fifa ruled that clubs had no obligation to release players for these qualifiers.
‘Afcon qualifiers; Tanzania v Zimbabwe, TP Mazembe duo Samata and Ulimwengu to arrive on Sat, Gov Katumbi thank you for your kind generosity,” tweeted Malinzi.
Taifa Stars manager Boniface Clement also told The Citizen that the duo had been secured for the tie.
“Samata and Ulimwengu are expected to fly into the country tomorrow (today), a few hours after featuring for their club (TP Mazembe) in the African Champions League match against Al Hilal of Sudan in Khartoum,” he said.
Zimbabwean fans, unhappy that their South Africa-based players — Willard Katsande and Kingston Nkhatha snubbed national duty to remain at their base — will only look at the sacrifice being made by Samata and Ulimwengu, just to play for their country, and see the difference in commitment.
Katsande has blamed a stomach bug, but he is expected to grace the South African end-of-season awards ceremony tomorrow night where he is in the running for the top two awards.
A number of analysts believe Katsande turned down national duty because the match in Tanzania came on the same day that he is likely to be crowned king of the South African Premiership and didn’t want to miss his finest hour.
Clement said striker Mrisho Ngasa has shrugged off a knee injury and might feature for Stars in tomorrow’s encounter.
Ngasa, Samata and Ulimwengu missed last month’s international friendly match against Malawi at the Sokoine Memorial Stadium in Mbeya, which ended in a draw.
Taifa Stars skipper, defender Nadir Haroub, expects a tough match.
“There is no easy game in modern football,” he told the Daily News of Tanzania.
“It will be tough against Zimbabwe. They are a strong team and we will need to be at our best to get a good result.
“If we put up a spirited performance and play as a unit with a lot of determination, we can beat them.
“As players, we know how important Sunday’s game is and we have all trained really well.” — The Citizen, Daily News (Tanzania), Herald Reporter.
Online Reporter