The national beach soccer team will go out for victory today against their Kenya counterparts ‘Sand Stars’ in the return leg match of the African Beach Soccer championship qualifiers.
Tanzania needs a draw of any kind and victory at the Escape One Club Msasani in Dar es Salaam on Saturday will be a plus, after emerging with a 5-3 victory in the first leg match held in Mombasa, Kenya a week ago.
However, Tanzania will face a challenge to defend their first leg victory, as they will miss the service of its captain Ally Rabbi, who sustained injury in the first leg match held at the Pirates beach in Mombasa.
Rabbi, who scored four goals in the 5-3 win in Mombasa, is certainly going to be a big miss for the home side, which has also failed to get the service of his substitute Nyakubu Mohamed from Zanzibar.
The match is expected to be tough and thrilling for both sides, as they will both be hunting for a win to ensure they cruise into the second round of the tournament.
Kenya ‘Sand Stars’ seem to be well prepared and are looking forward to battle it till their last drop to overturn the first leg result, as they have strengthened their squad by inclusion of five new players, who did not feature in the first leg match due to lack of passports. The players are Nasir Salim, Hudheifa Omar Mchulla and Mudhafar Swaleh Mohammed.
Kenya squad was expected to arrive in Dar es Salaam on Friday evening ready for the game, which will be officiated by Senegalese Beye Mbokh as first referee and his compatriot Signate Youssouph, as second referee and the third referee Maolidy Tsaralaza from Madagascar.
The match time-keeper will be Hachim Said Nassur from Madagascar, while the match commissioner will be Roch Henriette from Seychelles.
Kenya need a 3-0 in today’s match to set a date with Egypt in the second round of the qualifiers, whereby the first leg will be played at home between March 13 and 15 and the return leg will be held in Egypt.
A total of 19 teams are participating in the championship whose finals will be held in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles in April, this year.
