By Our Special Correspondent
Tanzanians have been urged to come in big number to support Taifa Stars as they host Ethiopia in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam in Wednesday.
It will be the first group H match of the qualifiers for both teams with each side eager to pocket maximum three points ahead of their second qualifying matches.
In their next match, Taifa Stars will make a long trip to Ivory Coast where they will face Guinea in another important clash as the flag bearers search a record of qualifying for AFCON finals for the fourth time.
Speaking on Monday in the city, the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Information Officer Clifford Ndimbo said preparations for the game are unfolding well.
"So far, everything is going well and the team is training hard in order to produce a deserved home win before travelling for an away match as such, we want the stadium to be full for the sake of giving support our players," he said.
Also, the event was attended by Media and Communication Managers of Simba (Ahmed Ally), Young Africans (Ally Kamwe) and Azam (Hasheem Ibwe) who together motivated Tanzanians to storm at the 60,000 seater stadium in big number.
"For us, we want to support President Samia Suluhu Hassan's initiative of providing goal motivation package and in this case, when the team scores three goals, them Simba, Yanga and Azam will buy each goal for 5m/-," Kamwe said.
However, during the same press briefing, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Culture, Arts and Sports Gerson Msigwa called live and pledged that President Samia will also contribute 5m/-.
"In order to join the motivation campaign, as you have stated, if they score the three goals and you provide 15m/-, then President Samia will contribute 5m/- on it meaning that in total, the team will pocket 20m/-," Msigwa said.
He also used the same opportunity to urge Tanzanians to go at the stadium to back up their team from the kick-off to the end of the match.
"This is our national team as such, it is the responsibility of each of us to rally behind them because by doing that, they will be able to come out victorious which is what we all need.
"We need to qualify for the 2025 AFCON edition so that we should create a history of reaching in the finals for sixth time since in 2027, we will automatically qualify on hosting ticket," Msigwa said.
Meanwhile, Tanzania first made it to AFCON finals in 1980 in Nigeria where they were packed in group A alongside the host Nigeria, Egypt and Ivory Coast.
Their second appearance came in 2019 in Egypt where they were put in group C together with Algeria, Senegal and Kenya and they also finished at the bottom of the group.
Then in 2023, Tanzania again qualified for the AFCON finals and this time, the showdown unfolded in Ivory Coast where the country's envoys were placed in group F as well as Morocco, DR Congo and Zambia.