CHAN: Tanzania were wasteful in front of goal despite Burkina Faso win – Suleiman

Tanzania national team head coach Hemed Suleiman has admitted that he is worried with the team’s attacking zone despite registering a commanding 2-0 African Nations Championship (CHAN) victory over Burkina Faso in Dar es Salaam on Saturday night.

Backed by a raucous home crowd at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, the Taifa Stars controlled large spells of the Group B encounter to record their first-ever win in an opening CHAN fixture—having lost both of their previous tournament openers.

A composed first-half penalty from Abdul Sopu set the tone before defender Mohamed Hussein sealed the victory midway through the second half with a powerful header, sending local fans into raptures.

“It was not an easy game, we knew before heading into the opener, our team was not good enough in terms of scoring goals, we knew we had a good defence but we struggled to score in previous matches we played,” Suleiman told reporters after the game.

“We did a lot of work while in camp to try and work on our attacking zone, to try and maximize on the chances that we create, but again I want to thank my boys, they worked really hard to adapt to what we had taught them for the win.”

He added: “But one thing is for sure, we still have problems using the chances that we create, but we will try as hard as possible to work on that ahead of our next game, the most important thing, we have started well in the tournament.

“Our main focus was to win the first game, we have managed to do so, and our focus now is to try to rectify mistakes for the next assignment.”

The Taifa Stars will now look to build on this momentum in their next group match, while Burkina Faso face an uphill task if they are to reach the knockout stages for the first time in their history.