A thriller took place in Tuesday’s FIFA World Cup qualifier between Tanzania and Madagascar in Dar es Salaam with the Taifa Stars emerging victorious by a 3-2 score to move to the top of Group J. Erasto Nyoni, Novartus Dismas and Feisal Salum all got on the score sheet for the hosts with Salum’s second half goal standing as the match winner to help Tanzania overcome a furious rally from the Barea. While Tanzania’s excellent start continues, two losses from the opening two games means Madagascar are on the outside looking in when it comes to achieving qualification.
In an astounding start to the match, Tanzania kicked off and sent a long ball to the edge of the Malagasy penalty area for pacey forward Simon Msuva, who was crushed by keeper Melvin Adrien. The referee awarded a penalty only six seconds after the kickoff and the spot kick was converted by Nyoni to open the scoring against the stunned visitors. A horrible start for Madagascar was further confirmed before the half hour mark when sloppy passing out of the back led to talented young midfielder Dismas stealing the ball and surging into the penalty area before slotting a low well placed finish past Adrien into the corner.
However, Madagascar finally got it together just in time to make the match very interesting. In the 36th minute, Loic Lapoussin dribbled in from the left wing and sent an inswinging cross to the far post for first half substitute Njiva Rakotoharimalala to apply the finish and cut the lead in half. The visitors completed a shock comeback in first half stoppage time when a beautiful free kick from Thomas Fontaine was curled towards the near post and beat Tanzania keeper Aishi Manula to equalize.
The Taifa Stars recovered their confidence during the break and found the eventual game winning goal in the 53rd minute. Star forward Mbwana Samatta jetted down the left flank and got to the end line before cutting back an accurate low cross to Salum, with the Young Africans player having all day to line up his low finish into the corner past Adrien. Madagascar had a chance to level late on but after an initial header was saved off a corner kick, Pascal Razakanantenaina’s follow up shot in front of the goal was well closed down by Manula to preserve the Tanzanian lead, which held until full time.
Highlights are in the link below.
