Sports

Ngorongoro Heroes vow to shoot down Eagles

THE national under-20 team, Ngorongoro Heroes has assured Tanzanians of a victory on Sunday when they take on Nigeria’s Flying Eagles at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam in the first leg, second round of the 18th African Youth Competition (AYC) qualifier clash.

The assurance was given by the Ngorongoro Heroes head coach, Jakob Michelsen alongside the team captain, Omega Seme during a press briefing at the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) offices. The Heroes will lock horns with Nigeria at the National Stadium on Sunday, just a day after the climax of the ongoing CECAFA Kagame Cup.

Michelsen, who is also the under 17 coach, took over the team recently and will be expected to overcome Nigeria to be assured of a place in the second round. "I have been preparing my team for the last few weeks and the two trial matches against Rwanda have given me the chance to know the players, though it would not be an easy task since the Nigerians are the defending champions,” he said.

He will bank on experience of his players featuring for the national senior side, Taifa Stars, Frank Domayo, Simon Msuva and Ramadhan Singano, whom he said; their exposure in such games will be of importance today.Ngorongoro Heroes reached the second round of the U-20 African Nations Cup (AFCON) Qualifiers after dispatching Sudan in the first round.

Heroes thrashed Sudan 3-1 in the first leg match played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam before losing to the latter 2-1 in the return leg and progressed to the second round with 4-3 goals aggregate.

Thomas Ulimwengu, Ramadhan Singano and Simon Msuva were on target for Heroes in the first leg match and Ulimwengu, who plays professional soccer for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s giants, TP Mazembe, scored a crucial consolation goal in the return leg. The Flying Eagles, under the tutelage of John Obuh, said they will take on Ngorongoro Heroes very cautiously as they will not underrate the sides.

“I believe we are up against a tough team and the fact that any side facing a Nigerian team always redoubles their efforts means that we are in for a big battle. We therefore need to be determined, focused and work hard to ensure we win this game,” Obuh told Nigerian daily, The Nation.

The Flying Eagles were beaten 1-0 by Rwanda’s Under-20 side, The Junior Wasps in an international friendly game at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on Tuesday. Obuh, however, hopes the pain of the loss in Rwanda will propel the team to go all out and win against the Heroes. “The pressure now is for my players to deliver, go out there and come out with a good result. We need to score goals and win the match,” he said.

“If we had taken our chances against Rwanda, we would have easily won 1-0, 2-0 or at worst drawn the game. But again if we had won, it could also have worked against us because the players may now think they have arrived before our important qualifier,” he added. Obuh cautioned his players that they must remain concentrated for the entire 90 minutes on Sunday to avoid any upset.

“I expected them to be a lot more concentrated especially in the closing moments of the game because if you let in a goal at that time, it is often very difficult to draw level as there will not be enough time to do so.” The entrance fee for the match will be 3,000/- for Orange, Blue and Green seats while VIP B and C will be 5,000/- 10,000/- for VIP A.