Tanzania get close to WAFCON qualification after stopping Togo

Tanzania’s Twiga Stars are 90-minutes away from qualifying for the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2024.

Coach Bakari Shime’s team handled Togo a 3-0 defeat in the first leg of the final hurdle of the qualifiers played at the Azam Complex in Tanzania on Thursday.

The visiting Togolese team that ejected Djibouti in the first round played a highly defensive approach, but Twiga Stars skipper Opa Clement Tukumbuke Sanga made sure she put her team ahead three minutes into added time of the first half.

After recess Kouno Yawa netted an own goal to give Twiga Stars a 2-0 lead after 51 minutes. The Turkish based professional Tukumbuke netted here second goal of the day after 82 minutes.

Head coach Shime said it was good to win the first leg, but added that they must prepare well ahead of the return leg on December 5th. ” There is still a lot of work to be done. But it is good that we managed to win the home tie, ” added Shime who also guided Tanzania to qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup last year.

In another match played on Saturday Burundi suffered a 5-1 defeat away to Algeria. Peace Niyomwungere opened the scoring for Burundi after 29 minutes, but the hosts woke up to score a hattrick through Ines Boutaleb and a goal each by Lina Boussaha and Imane Chebel.

On Wednesday Botswana held Kenya to a 1-1 draw at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi. Keitumyse Dithebe gave the visitors the lead after 37 minutes, but Marjolene Nekesa leveled matters four minutes into added time of the first half.

A total of 12 teams will qualify for the group stages, and will join automatically-qualified hosts Morocco.