IT was a full house at the national football team, Taifa Stars, camp after overseas pros led by TP Mazembe pair of Mbwana Samata and Thomas Ulimwengu joined the rest of the squad in training ahead of this weekend's Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Nigeria.
The Stars returned home in the early hours of Wednesday from a weeklong training tour of Turkey and went straight into the camp to fine-tune for the much-awaited tie against the Super Eagles at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
They took part in light training last evening with Samata and Ulimwengu as well as mercurial winger Mrisho Ngassa, who features for South African side Free States, joining their teammates for the first time.
The trio did not travel with the team to Turkey due to club commitments and will have three days to work with the team's new technical bench under Charles Boniface Mkwasa, who has replaced sacked Dutch trainer, Mart Nooij.
Their presence will certainly be a morale booster for the rest of the team and Mkwasa, who faces a tough battle of wits against Sunday Oliseh, who like his Tanzanian counterpart will be leading the Super Eagles in his first AFCON qualifier on Saturday.
But while Mkwasa is heading into the match looking to get Tanzania's campaign back on track with a win against Nigeria after losing 3-0 to Egypt on match-day one, Oliseh will be hoping that his charges maintain their perfect start to the campaign following a 2-0 win over Chad in the opening match.
Culled from http://m.dailynews.co.tz/
