***UPDATE***
Zanzibar take the third place after beating Tanzania in penalties. click here for more details
Saturday, December 8th 2012
Mandela National Stadium, Namboole @ 3.00PM Live on SS9 East
It will be an ‘All Tanzania’ affair as Tanzania mainland meets Zanzibar in the third playoff of Cecafa Tusker Cup 2012 on Saturday afternoon at Mandela national stadium, Namboole.
Kilimanjaro Stars and Zanzibar Heroes lost their semi-finals ties 3-0 and 4-2 (penalties) to hosts Uganda and 2002 champions Kenya respectively on Thursday.
Tanzania finished fourth in last year’s tournament after losing to Sudan 1-0 and will aim to avoid the mistakes that denied them a third place finish.
Both coaches are expected to offer chance to some fringe players that have not been so active in the previous games but John Raphael Bocco and Mrisho Alfan Ngassa are expected to maintain their places in the team as the hunt for golden boot intensifies. The two players lead the goal scoring charts with five goals each.
Zanzibar Coach Salum Nassor will be without midfielder Sabril Ally Makame for the tie as he was sent off in the loss to Kenya but danger man Juma Jaku Juma and Khamis Mcha Khamis who has so far scored three goals in the competition are expected to lead the hunt for goals.
FACTS:
-Tanzania and Zanzibar have met three times in a third place playoff in Cecafa with Tanzania winning twice 2-1 in 1979 and 1990 while Zanzibar have won once in 2009
-Tanzania have finished third in this competition on three occasions (1979, 1990 and 2008) while Zanzibar has done it twice (2005 and 2009).
-Tanzania have only lost a third place play off tie twice (1-0 to Zanzibar in 2009 and 1-0 to Sudan in 2011) while Zanzibar has lost four times (2-1 to Tanzania in 1979 and 1990, 1982 3-0 to Zimbabwe and 1987 1-0 to Uganda).
– Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro Stars and Zanzibar Heroes merge into Taifa Stars when it comes to playing into FIFA recognised competitions.
Mean while, the winner of this match will walk away with $ 10,000 as prize money.
