Taifa Stars prepare for Somalia tie
By Express Reporter
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania is preparing to host Somalia in the the second round of the Championship of African Nations (Chan) slated for mid this month in Dar es Salaam.
They played a warm-up game against Uganda Cranes yesterday in Mwanza to fine-tune before facing the underdogs from the horn of Africa
country.
The game was supposed to be played on Tuesday but it was postponed following an accident at the Mwanza airport that affected air traffic.
Uganda players and officials were stranded for close to three hours at Entebbe Airport.
Some passengers were injured after tyres of the Air Tanzania plane burst in the wee hours of yesterday morning. This paper couldn’t
immediately establish whether the plane was landing or taking off but the incident prompted authorities to cancel all incoming and outgoing flights.
“I am disappointed because reaching there early would have helped us to prepare for the game,” Cranes coach Bobby Williamson said. “It’s now a different story and it now depends on how fast the hosts work itout.”
Williamson, who had earlier ruled out using any foreign-based players,also said that the build-up was important for the young lads as theyprepare for their away CHAN match against Burundi on March 13.“Thematch against Tanzania will of course help me come up with the rightstrategy before we face Burundi,” he noted. Fufa and the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), however, remained optimistic that the build-up would go ahead as planned.Clearance
Tanzania will obviously overcome the poor Somalia in the first round, where they will book a place in the next round to face the winner of Rwanda v Eritrea game.
Next year’s Chan finals will be played in Sudan and Tanzania will be hoping to qualify for the second consecutive time after doing so lastyear.
By The Express Reporter
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania’s basketball prodigy Hasheem Thabeet’s career in the world’s most prestigious league suffered a setback, when he was demoted from America’s NBA into D-League, which is a development league.
In the Dakota Wizards’ 94-85 win over the Mad Ants, the 7-foot-3, 265-pound rookie scored 19 points with 16 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Thabeet, the No. 2 pick in last year’s NBA Draft out of the University of Connecticut, is the highest-drafted player ever sent to the
D-League. The Grizzlies want to see some development in his understanding of the pro game.
Mad Ants coach Joey Meyer would probably rather not see him when Thabeet has a better feel for the game.“He was a monster tonight,”
Meyer said. “I thought he was the difference in the game.
“You never like to say one player made the difference. He had 19, 16 and six blocks, and you don’t add up the ones he altered. That was another six at least. In a sense he almost had a triple double.“He was certainly a major factor. We try to go to the basket, and he blocked everything or changed everything.
”The loss dropped the Mad Ants to 13-21. Dakota is 20-16.The job of
defending Thabeet fell primarily to Mad Ants centers Jared Reiner and
Sean Sonderleiter. They had varying degrees of success dealing with him.
His stay is temporary as he will be back in the NBA once he improves his game. He said his salary has not been affected following the demotion.
All eyes on Simba as other clubs bow out
By The Express Reporter
Tanzania’s representatives in this year’s Champions League and Confederation Cup have been eliminated after the first round.
Simba, who will start their campaign in the second round after being spared the first round, is the only team flying Tanzanian flag.
Yanga was bundled out by Lupopo of DRC after losing 3-2 on aggregate.
They were beaten 3-2 in Dar es Salaam and 1-0 in Lubumbashi.
Zanzibar’s Mafunzo and Miembeni respectively crashed out of the African Champions League and Confederation Cup tournaments. Mafunzo were dumped out of the African Champions League by Zimbabwe champions Gunners following 4-0 defeat at Rufaro on Sunday.
Gunners beat Mafunzo 2-1 in Dar es Salaam two weeks ago in the first leg of the preliminary round before routing their rivals who finished with 10 men in Harare.
Miembeni were thrown out by Petrojet of Egypt after crashing down to a 2-0 defeat in Cairo on Sunday. The Islanders had played for a 2-2 draw in the first leg match in Dar es Salaam two week ago.
TFF General Secretary Freddie Mwakalebela said the results were largely contributed by poor preparations as the clubs lacked good preparations for continental competitions.
The league is always dominated by two teams it is either Simba or
Yanga. The two teams are not given enough challenge by other teams taking part in the league, he said.
Mafunzo coach Shabaan Ramadhani said his squad showed lack of experience, but also complained that their hosts had the advantage of the extra man but praised his players for trying out their best.
Zanzibar teams have never gone past teh first round since they started taking part in CAF competitions in 2004.