TANZANIA will launch its 2023 COSAFA Beach Soccer championship with a tense match by hosting Angola at South Beach Arena in Durban, South Africa on March 17th.
Thereafter, the country’s envoys will interface Mozambique at the same venue a day later before winding up their Group B assignment by facing Morocco on March 20th.
Tanzania and Morocco are featured at the contest as guest teams while Saudi Arabia is the only non-African side competing at the championship for the first time.
Group A consists of hosts South Africa, Malawi, Seychelles, and Saudi Arabia with all eight teams battling to lift high the COSAFA Beach Soccer title.
In his recent remarks, the country’s Beach Soccer coach Boniface Pawasa said preparations are unfolding well for the competition and they aim to do well.
“Our primary target is to win the championship…we are training hard to successfully achieve the target because to be crowned champions, you need to showcase maximum performance,” he said.
He added that they are engaging in serious drills at Coco Beach in Dar es Salaam while insisting that players are grasping well the tactics before their deployment to the battlefield.
“We request all Tanzanians to rally behind us because their support is of great importance to us, we pledge to work hard in all our three Group B matches,” he said.
On his part, the team’s Technical Bench Advisor Talib Hilal said the competition will be used as part of preparations for the 2025 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finals to be hosted by Seychelles.
“The qualification mission for next year’s Beach Soccer World Cup will begin soon as such, we want to use the COSAFA tournament as part of gearing up for the World Cup qualifiers,” he said.
In the World Cup competition, Africa will be represented by three envoys as Seychelles already qualified for the hosting nation ticket.
The 2022 COSAFA Beach Soccer Championship was won by African powerhouse Senegal, who beat Egypt 5-3 in the decider. Mozambique finished fourth after losing 8-7 to Uganda in the bronze medal match.
Source: https://dailynews.co.tz/tanzania-angola-faceoff-in-cosafa-beach-soccer/
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