Stars to face Rwanda as Eritrea withdraw
By Express Reporter
Dar es Salaam
If Tanzania manage to eliminate Somalia in the penultimate round of the
Championship of African Nations (Chan) mid this month, the team will
come face to face with Rwanda in the final qualifying round.
This is after Eritrea, which was scheduled to play Rwanda, pulled out
of the qualifying tournament for unclear reasons.
Taifa Stars are in a fine shape after playing a warm-up game against
Uganda Cranes last week in Mwanza, losing 3-2.
With high chances of beating the poor Somalia, Rwanda will pose the
only threat as Tanzania will be seeking for the second straight
appearance at the Nations Cup of home-based players.
Next year's Chan finals will be played in Sudan and Tanzania will be
hoping to qualify for the second consecutive time after doing so last
year.
Tanzania qualified for Chan finals in Ivory Coast last year after
edging out Kenya, Uganda and Sudan in the qualifying rounds.
Tanzania will play Rwanda in May in home and away decisive games. The
region will be represented by two teams next year, which will join the
hosts Sudan.
Yanga needs miracle to stop Simba
By The Express Reporter
Dar es Salaam
Simba are two points and three games away from winning this year's
Vodacom Premier League title.
This looks therefore as if the Msimbazi street team is assured of
winning the title. But Yanga, who are on 45 points, can win the title
if Simba lose all the games and Yanga win all their remaining games.
In unlikely event of this happening, it will be the most dramatic
finish of the 12-team league that has been dominated by simba.
Simba and Yanga will once again occupy the top two spots,
demonstrating their dominance of the top flight football. This will
give them the right to represent the country in CAF club competitions.
With nineteen rounds played, high-flying leaders Simba are on 53
points and are eight points clear of second-placed and defending
champions Yanga.
After such a successful season of seventeen wins and two draws,
unbeatable Simba will require just two points in their third but last
game against Azam FC at the Uhuru Stadium next Sunday to clinch the
title for the first time in three seasons.
As Simba show no sign of weakening, Yanga, as their head coach
Kostadin Papic conceded after the weekend results, will be happy to
finish second.
Yanga have possibly proved the best side in the second round campaign
having won all eight games, but it has come too late and with the
matters not in their hands, they have got no option but to surrender
the title.
After narrowly escaping the relegation last season, Moro United will
be praying that the same miracle do occur this time around, if they
must not follow on footsteps of Polisi Morogoro, who went down last
season following their inferior goal difference to United.
With three rounds before the curtain falls, United, the former
Morogoro dwellers, are seating at the bottom of the table with 15
points.
Mwanza’s Toto African with 16 points so far, are another side on the
brink of demotion.
After successful campaigns in the top flight league, including a
second-place finish in 2008, Prisons have found themselves on the
ropes this season.
Seating third bottom with 17 points and three games to go, the
remaining fixtures are not friendly too.
Manyema Rangers are one point above Prisons and three above the bottom
side, Moro United, therefore they are not safe in any way.
Having poor goal difference ratio of minus 19, Manyema must pull their
socks up to get maximum points in those games to avoid the drop.
Lastly, there are Kagera Sugar and African Lyon.
The two are level on 20-points in eighth and seventh position respectively.
They need to play their cards quite well to remain safe, come end of the season.
Hasheem Thabeet bounces back into NBA
By The Express Reporter
Tanzania's basketball icon, Hasheem Thabeet, has bounced back into the
world's most prestigious basketball league, NBA, after spending less
than two weeks in the lower division league.
He now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies after successful 'development
spell' with Dakota Wizards, which is a Development League.
The 7-foot-3 Thabeet was sent to the D-League on Feb. 25. He averaged
13.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.17 blocks in six games with Dakota.
"I was on the bench for a long time," Thabeet said of his lack of
playing time before being sent to Dakota. "I got to go out there and
play big minutes [with the Wizards], try to work on the stuff the
coaches wanted me to do -- rebound the ball, block shots, and be able
to score when you get the ball. To stay active overall. I was
successful doing that."
Thabeet, the second overall pick last year out of Connecticut, had
averaged 2.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 50 games for the
Grizzlies. The 23-year-old is the highest drafted player to play in the NBA's
minor league. The purpose was to give him minutes, provide competition
and build his confidence. He did not play in three of Memphis' five
games before being sent to Dakota, and had not played more than 10
minutes since seeing 14 minutes of action on Feb. 5 against Houston.
"They gave me a reason why I was going up there," Thabeet said, "so it
wasn't as tough as a lot of people were expecting. They explained to
me why I was going there, and I was OK with it."
With the Wizards, he started four of six games and had a career-high
19 points Feb. 28 at Fort Wayne and a personal-best 18 rebounds March
5 at Tulsa. The Wizards were 5-1 during his stay.
"He went down and played well," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. "He
was a huge factor for them. The one game he fouled out, they lost in
the end. They're not 5-1, if he's not blocking shots and rebounding
the way he was, and even scoring."
The Wizards' schedule contributed to Thabeet's return. Dakota doesn't
play again until Sunday.
"That would have been a week for him to do nothing," Hollins said. "It
didn't serve any purpose with him not being able to play."