Tanzania hit Eritrea for four to reach semis

Lightning does not strike twice at the same place, they say, but Tanzania’s Mrisho Ngasa, scored thrice in 20 minutes as Kilimanjaro Stars on Tuesday evening glided into the Orange Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup’s semi-final with a comfortable 4-0 win over Eritrea.

That quarter-final match at the Nyayo National Stadium was a broadcaster’s dream, and a fascinating collision of cultures.

Cecafa hope the empty seats, surprisingly evident here last night, will not be seen in a heavyweight final to a marvellous tournament.

Tanzania’s football was of an elevated class that Harambee Stars can only dream of. Eritrea, so vibrant since that shocking draw against Zimbabwe during the group stages, were simply outplayed again, with Tesfaldet Goitom a particular disappointment.

Eritrea’s number 10 wasted an opportunity of a lifetime. When put through by Yonatan Goitom, he opted to shoot wide, with squaring a pass to Isaias Andeberhian, in a scoring position, seemed the easier task.

Young Africans (Yanga) star Shadrack Njasigwa was outstanding, delivering the perfect passes for his clubmates John Bocco and Ngasa to put Eritrea to the sword.

Exquisite goals

“This is what we have been wishing for - to show our ability on the field. I’m happy at the results, but wished we’d scored more goals.

“That’s how football is anyway. We now change our focus to the semi-finals,” said Tanzania’s head coach, Marcio Maximo.

Even before Tanzania conjured up some exquisite second-half goals, the day had brought many remarkable sights and sounds, first with a group of the Eritrean fan base trooping into the empty stadium, ostensibly to offer support to these surprise quarter-finalists.

Tanzanian journalists and a handful fans on the terraces kept on wondering whether their Stars could repeat their previous trouncing of Eritrea. They had to wait until after the break for confirmation.

The 19-year old Bocco struck midway through the second period, reacting superbly to turn in Njsajigwa’s cross-shot.

The travelling scribes raised the roof.

Then Ngasa took his international tally to 10 after he reacted brilliantly to Shaaban Nditi’s magnificent pass, and added two solo moves that put the game beyond Eritrea.

Victory was deserved for Tanzania’s skilled technicians who also had the game’s best player in the 20-year old Ngasa who was terrific up and down the right. Nurdin Bakari also made his customary impact when coming on.

Trials at West Ham

Maximo’s side had certainly started the better in a game that took time to get going. Tanzania had been the first to show with Bakari, Mrisho and Nditi testing Ambair Sium’s reflexes.

On his 36th international call-up, Njasigwa was superb throughout.

Eritrea’s left-back, Samuel Ghebrehiwet, kept charging forward, doing one lovely dink to lift the ball over Juma Nyoso.

Henry Nyoso nudged the ball onto Ngasa, whose response highlighted why so many clubs, including English Premier League’s West Ham, are watching the Yanga striker.

The striker had trials for two weeks with the English club in July.

His right foot crashed down into the ball, sending it swerving at speed towards Eritrea’s goal.

Sium reacted as a goalkeeper the quality of Iker Casillas would have reacted well enough, throwing his body to the left and stretching out a gloved finger to tip the ball to safety.

The width provided by full-backs like Salum Swed and Nyoso allowed the game to breathe a bit.

But in the in the 77th and 84th minutes, he could do nothing to stop Ngasa from ensuring Tanzania had a quiet sleep Tuesday night.