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| Tanzania ready for Brazil trip |
2/1/2007 |
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Tanzania''s ambitious plans for a spot in the 2008 African Nations Cup finals see 24 players travelling on Friday to Brazil for a training camp.
The squad will spend four weeks at the Fluminense club academy and hope to play at least six matches against top level opposition according to their Brazilian coach Marcio Maximo.
Tanzania are using the camp to prepare for a Nations Cup qualifier against Group 7 favourites Senegal in Dakar on 24 March.
Maximo hoped the trip would continue the progress made by the team over the last six months, during which they won their first qualifying match for a major competition in nine years, 2-1 against Burkina Faso last September.
"The confidence was very low when I arrived but we have worked on the psychology and the fitness of the players," Maximo said.
"Now they are learning about their potential and realising they have a chance.
"My idea is to try and improve the football both on and off the pitch and to work on a professional approach, which is something that has never happened in Tanzania before."
Tanzania, ranked 109th in the world, top the qualifying group with four points from two matches.
But the game against Senegal will be a litmus test of their potential to qualify for next year''s finals in Ghana for only the second time.
Their only previous appearance at a Nations Cup tournament came in Nigeria in 1980.
"Realistically we are still underdogs in our group but we can do well if we keep up our belief. We are promising nothing but hard work," the 42-year-old Maximo said.
"Football in Tanzania is now pulling in the right direction."
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