Taifa Stars, Malawi in goalless draw

Taifa Stars yesterday played to a goalless draw against a well drilled Malawi side in an international friendly at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Both sides used the game to prepare for their coming weekend first leg of World Cup qualifiers against Kenya and the Ivory Coast respectively.

Taifa Stars head coach Kim Poulsen was in his first assignment with the senior side which he recently took over from his compatriot Jan B. Poulsen, where his focus was on assessing his players and trying combinations to apply against ‘Elephants’ of the Ivory Coast.

Taifa Stars will play away to Ivory Coast on June 2 while Malawi will be away to Kenya on another World Cup preliminaries same day fixture.

Malawi coach Kinna Phiri said the game was ideal as it provided him with an opportunity to tune up for The Harambee Stars of Kenya. Tiafa Stars played short and accurate passes but failed to utilize at least three clear chances which they created and at times Malawi custodian Simplex Nthala stopped goal-bound shots sent in by Mbwana Samatta, Mwinyi Kazimoto and Shaaban Kapombe.

At the end of the match Poulsen praised his troops for dedication and team work,while decrying the lack of killer punches during the match, promising to work on that before meeting Ivory Coast on Saturday.

Taifa Stars featured : Juma Kaseja, Shaaban Kapombe, Waziri Salum (Amir Maftah minutes 56), Aggrey Morris, Kelvin Yondani, Shaaban Nditi, Mrisho Ngassa, Frank Domayo, Mbwana Samatta, Haruna Moshi, Mwinyi Kazimoto.