TANZANIA VS MOROCCO

 

Tanzania has played Morocco in Marrakesh and suffered a 2-1 defeat. This world cup qualifier match was played on 8th June. 

 

The match started with a lot of pressure from Morocco and within the 1st 10 minutes the Moroccans nearly scored. Thanks to the goalkeeper Kaseja who rescued Tanzania from a very early goal. The first goal of Morocco came out from a foul by Aggrey Morris on the Moroccan striker. Following the foul by Aggrey Morris, the South African referee offered a red card to the Tanzanian defender.

 

In the 40th minute the Moroccan striker, Abderrazak Hamdallah converted a penalty spot into a Morocco first opener. In the second half the Moroccans played nice football with some killer passes and it was in the 59th minute when the Moroccan striker El Arabi scored the second goal.

 

The Taifa Stars Tanzania national team.

Photo: http://mrokim.blogspot.com

The Taifa stars defenders did a great job to resist the frequent attacks from the Morrocans. In the 61th minute, Amri Kiemba, the Tanzanian midfielder produces a very tremendous strike which went directly into the volley. Then the match ended 2-1 in favour of the Moroccans.

 

If Tanzania wins its tie against Ivory Coast then their hopes will be revived again. Morocco might win its game against Gambia to have a total of 8 points, and all the 3 teams will have to fight strongly for the 1st position.


The Tanzanian Striker who plays for TP Mazembe Thomas Ulimwengu, missed a very close chance to the Morocco goal but did not succeed to convert his weak strike into a goal. I think that was the only chance for Tanzania to score the opener in the 1st half. The match was a revenge for a Morocco 3-1 defeat in Dar es Salaam.

The red card was inevitable as Aggrey Morris came from behind to deny the Moroccan striker the advantage to score the goal.

On the other hand there was a technical mistake from the Tanzania defense because they set an offside trap which was cleverly deciphered by the Morocco forward line. That was the reason for the Tanzania defender to find no other option than playing a dirty game against the Moroccan striker.

Surprisingly the second Morocco goal came out of almost the same mistake. Once again the defense of Tanzania team set another offside trick in a poor way. The clever Moroccans punished their opponents with another goal. The flags were down because the scorer was not in offside position. Sometimes we have to learn in the hard way.  When the team is defeated like that then it goes back and thinks of what has happened.

In the first half the Taifa Stars coach Kim Poulsen took out Mrisho Ngassa and Thomas Ulimwengu . Hamis Mcha and Nadir Haroud came in their positions. This meant that Mbwana Samatta was to play a lone striker role without much assistance from the other striker or the midfield.

The removal of Aggrey Morris who was red-carded meant that the team should play with much care as their opponents are in full list. The speed of Morocco players together with their accurate passes was a big mountain for Tanzania even before the red card. Honestly speaking, Morocco looked more focused and experienced than Tanzanians in that game.

Having suffered a 3-1 defeat in the 1st match in Dar es Salaam, the Moroccans planned to play for winning from the 1st minute. Although Hamis Mcha substituted Mrisho Ngasa, he did not perform the desired results and no wonder he was substituted in the second half by John Bocco who plays for Azam FC in Tanzania.

The next game in Dar es Salaam will between Tanzania vs Ivory Coast. Will Tanzania win that game?