Photo Courtesy TFF Media.
Tanzania national football team (Taifa Stars) head coach Hemed ‘Morocco’ Suleiman has revealed his intentions to guide the country to the 2024 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) trophy for the first time in their history.
The draw for the 8th edition of the tournament will be conducted on Wednesday, 15 January at the Kenyatta International Conventional Centre in Nairobi, Kenya at 8pm East Africa Time.
Speaking ahead of the draw, Suleiman explained their readiness to go all the way and win the tournament.
"First, we have already qualified for AFCON. For me, we need to forget that for a while as we make long-term calculations starting from here, and those calculations need to start in this upcoming CHAN tournament because AFCON is in December next year,” explained Suleiman as quoted by the Guardian.
"The CHAN tournament will be held here in the country, and we will be the hosts. To be honest, we want to give Tanzanians a gift. My intention and that of my fellow coaches is to keep this trophy here in the country.
"A good advantage we have is that many of the players who were in the squad that was seeking a place to play in AFCON are players who play here at home. This is an advantage for us.”
Suleiman further promised to make sure that Tanzania gets past the group stage of the competition for the first time. "Our participation in these CHAN finals has never been good; we have always been eliminated in the early stages. We want to change this perception and progress further. We need to work,” he explained.
"If we get good preparations before CHAN, with sufficient time for a training camp and with the players we have at the moment, we can achieve something.”
He added: “We have already started initial preparations in strategic planning, and things are progressing. We are looking at what kind of players we will need. I believe we will do well.”
A total of 19 nations, including hosts Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and defending champions Senegal will be engaged in the draw to officially map out the tournament’s month-long schedule.
So far the qualified teams include; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda (all co-hosts), Morocco, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Sudan, Zambia, Angola and Madagascar. Two more teams will be confirmed for the finals.
The tournament will take place between 1st -28th February 2025.
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