See best of Stars vs Niger today

TAIFA Stars Assistant Coach Hemed Moroco has expressed his confidence that the country’s envoys are going to produce good results against Niger at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam today.

The two teams meet in a crucial group F Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers match with each side eager to claim maximum points ahead of their last fixtures versus Algeria and Uganda respectively.

At a pre-match briefing yesterday in the city, Moroco assured Tanzanians that, basing on training programmes they have had prior to the game, he is confident of getting good results.

“Of course, it is a must-win game to us in order to increase our chance of qualifying for the AFCON finals and each player in our squad is aware about this.

“We have tried to see how our opponents play and at the same time, we have also managed to address some of the challenges which surfaced in our previous game against Uganda,” he said.

Also, concerning lack of goal scoring efficiency that affect Taifa Stars, Morocco conceded the problem saying they had special sessions on scoring goals and because it is a must win game, they will score enough goals.

He said the called squad has been based on the potential of the players and that each has got his own qualities to represent well the national team.

His counterpart for Niger Jean Cavalli also indicated that it is a very important game to them as a setback sees them missing out an opportunity to qualify for the AFCON finals.

“We have to win this game or else we are out of the competition…we are going to do our best to stamp good results even though it is a tough encounter,” he said.

As it stands in group F, Algeria leads with 12 points followed by Taifa Stars with 4 points while Uganda are third with 4 points and Niger occupy the fourth slot with 2 points in the bag.

The recently called Taifa Stars squad under coach Adel Amrouche comprises of the following players: Goalkeepers Beno Kakolanya (Simba), Metacha Mnata (Yanga) Zuberi Foba (Azam) and Vuai Makame (KMKM).

Defenders: Dickson Job (Yanga), Datius Peter (Kagera Sugar), Kibwana Shomari (Yanga), Abdi Banda (Chippa United-South Africa), Mohamed Hussein (Simba), Bakari Mwamnyeto (Yanga), Ibrahim Bacca (Yanga), Kennedy Juma (Simba) and Lameck Lawi (Coastal Union).

Midfielders: Himid Mao (El-Mahalla-Egypt), Mzamiru Yassin (Simba), Novatus Dismas (Zuite Waregem-Belgium), Idrissa Bilali (FK Gorazde-Bosnia), Aziz Andambwile (Singida Fountain Gate), Ben Starkie (Basford United-England), Mudathir Yahya (Yanga), Raphael Daudi (Ihefu), Morris Abraham (FK Sportak Subotica-Serbia) and Adolf Bitegeko (Volsungur FC-Ireland).