Tanzania U20 women’s coach Bakari Shime has maintained they are ready to use home ground advantage when they host Uganda in the first leg of Fifa U20 World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
The two neighbours will face off at National Stadium in Dar es Salaam with the hosts' coach beaming with confidence they will get a convincing win to take to the return leg set for Kampala.
“Our team is ready for the battle with Uganda,” Shime is quoted by Daily News.
“For a while now we have been training with all-women teams from the U17 team to the senior team since July last year. My players have grasped a lot from the pieces of training …they have gained a lot of confidence.”
Despite admitting it will be a tough battle, Shime said a win at home was important for them to create a cushion ahead of the return leg in Kampala in two weeks’ time.
On their side, the U-20 players have said they are ready and vowed to with the first leg clash.
Speaking about the game, the U-20 players Opa Clement and Protasia Mbunda said the spirit in the camp was sky-high, calling for support from fans.
“We believe in the quality of the team and individual players…the spirit is also high in the camp and we have all that it takes to win and give joy to Tanzanians. We won’t let them down because we are going to fight for good results,” said Opa.
The return leg will be played on February 1 at Lugogo Stadium in Kampala and the winner of the two-legged tie will make it to the next round to face the winner of the match between Sierra Leone and Senegal.
The 2020 Fifa U-20 Women's World Cup will be held in Costa Rica and Panama from August 2020 and the defending champions are Japan who won its first title at the 2018 tournament in France.
