Tanzania head coach Emmanuel Amuneke has blamed inexperience and lack of exposure for his side’s poor performance at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, reports Completesports.com.
The Taifa Stars’ chances of qualifying for rhe Round of 16 are now very remote following a 3-2 loss to East African rivals, Kenya on Thursday. They lost their first match 2-0 to Senegal.
The Taifa Stars now have a very remote chance of advancing from Group C as one of the four third-placed teams. To qualify, they must beat Algeria in their last group match, with Senegal trouncing Kenya with a massive win and the other results of matches involving third-place aspirants in other groups favour them.
Amuneke ‘s charges started the encounter against the Harambee Stars brilliantly after Simon Msuwa opened the scoring, six minutes into the game.
Michael Olunga brought the Harambee Stars back into contention with an improvised overhead kick in the 39th minute but captain Mbwana Samata restored Tanzania’s lead just before the half time break.
However, the Taifa Stars lost momentum in the second half as Johanna Omolo equalised for Kenya before Michael Olunga sealed the victory with his second goal of the game.
It was their second defeat of the competition after a 2-0 loss to the Teranga Lions of Senegal last Sunday.
“The reality is in a game of football if you don’t know how to manage the game to your advantage, you pay for it,” Amuneke told reporters after the game.
“We started on a very good note, scoring first then leading the game towards half time, but there were a lot of crazy things. we committed a lot of mistakes, the second goal, the Kenya equaliser, this is what we have practised over and over, knowing they have dropped the ball in the first place.
“As a coach you are helpless, you feel you want to help them, but you cannot turn it around. Most players play in the Tanzanian league, we lack experience, it’s a good thing we came to this Afcon, and it’s a good thing for Tanzanian football, to open their eyes. The truth is that at the moment we’re not in a position to compete.
“Our target, we are privileged to have qualified for the Afcon, after so many years we’ve missed out and now we’re here after all these years. Every team wants to do well, every team wants to go far, but you could see, we’re still lacking a lot of experience, character, maturity.”
By Adeboye Amosu
12 Comments
This man is talking too much.. They lack this lack that.. There are no excuse for failure and as a coach you are the leader you ought to take responsibility for failure. You also lack experience amuneke why not play defensive game after getting your needed goals..
From what I saw yesterday. Senegal are not the best team in this afcon is terms of good football. Though Algeria played dirty and deserved at least 2 red cards Senegal played nothing.. What that the Senegal everyone was talking about their sisters looked very heavy lacked pace.. No no no Senegal can’t win afcon their FIFA ranking should drop after this tournament
#Strikers
And the truth too is, Amuneke knew all these before picking up the job.
Just hours before the tournament began, i recall him being bullish about their chances..and now this.
Truth be told tho, sentiments aside, if i were Tanzanian, i won’t fully forgive him oh…. dat tin (crashing out) dey painnnnn? lolz
I was shocked Tanzania couldn’t manage a lead for even up to 10 minutes. No balance of play, porous backline and a super jittery goalkeeper! Samata and the other guys upfront are brilliant, just like Billiat and co in the Zimbabwe team. But, my goodness, did Amunike teach this team defensive football at all? I don’t like how he shifts blame. He should own the blame. This game was theirs for the taking – a 3 pointer! Now, they’re practically out, except they can manage to hand Algeria a heavy defeat (Lol) and hope Senegal does same to Kenya.
Kel, I was shocked too. But I think they can beat Algeria silly.
Do you want to bet?-N-10,000.
But I thought they had balance of play. Their defense is not as porous as that and their goalkeeper is not pepeye.
Hahaha. Walahi, I go chop your money, deo. Oya drop am for Bet9ja, make plenty other people join you sef play Tanzania 5-0 Algeria, and only me one do Algeria win. Omo, that na millionaire things for me ooo. Lol.
But seriously, Tanzania have talent in the front line but nearly zero focus on defence. Credit to Amunike for a silky forward line, but I doubt he paid similar attention to the rear guard. Guess he too needs more experience.
🙂
“It doesn’t matter who I’m playing against even if it’s against my mother or my late father”. It’s always good to be humble in everything we do in life. Bragado can never lead you to anything. It’s only when you’ve achieved something imperious that you can begin to brag. It will take a monumental miracle for Tanzania to lose 2-0 to Algeria. If Algeria play with full gear Tanzania may be spelled. How I wish Tanzania can be one of the best losers to meet the SuperEagles in the knockout stage
Mali leading Tunisia.. If it ends that way Tunisia would be going for best third. Meaning Egypt might be playing Tunisia in round of 16
One-one. Egypt just escaped Tunisia. Mali biko win this game.