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Poor preps hinder Stars
2005-11-26 08:57:42
By Editor
The East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup kicks off today in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Amahoro Stadium.
Tanzania mainland’s soccer team Kilimanjaro Stars goes into the tournament without proper preparations.
They played only one international trial match against a Third Division team from US Seattle Sounders of which they drew 1-1.
Kilimanjaro Stars also played two matches against Zanzibar of which they drew one and won one.
The two matches can not be considered as sufficient preparation because Seattle Sounders is not a national team and comes from a country where soccer is not given first priority.
Although we wish the best for the Stars a lot depends on the capability of the team, we know very well that our team had a dull and poor preparation.
Their victory will depend on individual effort of the players, given that most of them play for the Mainland Premier League clubs.
We expected that the new Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) could give a better preparation for the team than the defunct Football Association of Tanzania (FAT), considering that its president Leordgar Tenga was once a national team player, who knows all problems facing the national team.
But we started doubting the TFF when it appointed Mshindo Msolla and John Simkoko to be coaches of the team.
We expected TFF to come up with new vision by selecting new faces to take over from the regular coaches.
Msolla has never had luck with the Stars neither did Simkoko.
At one time Msolla and Kenyan James Siang’a resigned from coaching the team when the team was beaten 5-0 by Kenya’s Harambee Stars in a friendly match in Arusha.
The public did not expect Msolla and Siang’a to step down considering that it was a friendly match which is normally used to rectify the mistakes noticed.
The frequent defeat of the Stars in continental tournaments has lowered Tanzania in the Fifa rankings; it is now at number 175 and the second from the bottom.
Kenya is on the 92nd place, and remains the highest ranked in the East and Central African Region, followed by Rwanda ranked 106 and then Uganda at 109.
Ethiopia is pegged at 128, Burundi a step further at 143 and Eritrea comes at position 172.
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