Heroes off to Egypt for Cecafa cup preps - Zanzibar Heroes are to set up a training camp in Egypt ahead of the upcoming Tusker CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup due to kick off in Dar es Salaam later this month. The training tour has been organized by Zanzibar Heroes sponsors Future Century Limited in partnership with Zanzibar Football Association (ZFA) and the Zanzibar Ministry of Information, Tourism, Sports and Culture.

Zanzibar Heroes coach Stewart Hall has already picked up a 26-man squad for the regional championship to be held in Dar es Salaam for the second year running and the English tactician expects to have most of the players in Egypt. According to Future Century Chief Executive Officer, Helene Masanja, the team will travel in groups with the first contingent, which excludes players currently in the national soccer team, Taifa Stars camp, set to jet off on Monday. "The Zanzibar team players that are part of the Taifa Stars will join the team on November 16," revealed Masanja. The players include Mwadini Ally, Aggrey Morris, Nassoro Masoud 'Chollo' and Nadir Haroub, who has however withdrawn from the Stars squad to face Chad in the World Cup qualifiers next Sunday. Zanzibar Heroes will play their first international friendly match this Wednesday against Suez Canal at the team's stadium and play their second game with NDP followed by a match on November 14 against the Arab Contractors.

Zanzibar Heroes will be back in action against the Egypt U-23 Olympic team at the national stadium on November 16 and a rematch two days later. The last match will be held on November 20 with Al Canal, the Egyptian football club that bought Zanzibar player, Ali Badri. Masanja named officials that will be going to Egypt as Heroes coach, Hall, who will travel on Thursday, assistant coach Hemed Moroco, Sada Salum of the Zanzibar Council for Sports, ZFA Secretary General Masoud Attai and ZFA Media Officer Munir Zakaria. "We anticipate that with this; Zanzibar Heroes will successfully partake in the Tusker Challenge Cup at the international competitive standards," Masanja said.

The Heroes tactician, Hall, expressed confident that the Egypt camp will provide his squad with ideal preparations for the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup, adding that the two games against the Egyptian U-23 team are crucial build-ups for his side. On March 26, this year, Future Century Limited in partnership with the ZFA and Ministry of Information, Tourism, Sports and Culture hosted a fundraising gala dinner for Zanzibar Heroes and raised 86,841,000/- through pledges and auctions.

Helene said the amount that has been collected to date has confirmed to be 59,841,000/-. Meanwhile, Hall apparently slammed Vietnamese club, Dong Long An, over their inexorable refusal to release Tanzanian players for national team duties. "Babi is included in the team for Cecafa challenge but we don't actually know if he will be available, Vietnam clubs are not easy to release their players," lamented Hall. He said it was strange that clubs in Vietnam had different approach to football. "They own players and decide whether or not they release them for the national duty." The Briton suggested that the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) should report the club to FIFA.

Abdallah Msuya

Tanzania Daily News/07/11/2011