Tanzania have their work cut out against WAFCON champions Banyana – Shime

Tanzania Women’s National Team Twiga Stars head coach Bakari Shime is not ruling out an upset when they take on Banyana Banyana in their second fixture of the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) at Oujda Stadium in Morocco on Friday.

The East African nation will go into the fixture seeking a win to stay alive in the tournament having lost their opener 1-0 against Mali. However, they will come up against side fighting to defend the trophy they won in 2022, and started off their Group C campaign with a 2-0 win against Ghana.

“This is a different match from the opener against Mali. South Africa are the defending champions, and it is not easy to play against them. But we are well prepared to play against them according to their ability. I will give them much respect on the field and they will give them much respect, and then we’ll do everything carefully,” said Shime ahead of the game.

“We lost two matches against South Africa in the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers but if you remember those matches, you will recall Tanzania’s performance in both games. Yes, they are the defending champions, more experienced than us, and we take every caution in this game.”

This is the first time Twiga Stars are returning to the WAFCON after an absence of 15 years. They last played in the 2010 edition and got eliminated in the group stages.

The last time when Banyana faced the Twiga Stars, they won the fixture home and away during the 2024 Paris Olympics Games qualifiers. They won the away game 3-0 before returning home to win the return leg 1-0.