Mbeya City impress in Nile Basin opener

By Correspondent

Mbeya City

Tanzania’s Mbeya City fought from a goal down to edge determined Academie Tchite of Burundi 3-2 on Saturday in the opening fixture of group ‘B’ of the ongoing CECAFA Nile Basin Cup here in Khartoum.

Mbeya City who arrived here on the eve of the match day went a goal down in after ten minutes through Rashid Patient. Patiently they recovered fast from the shock when Nonga Paul headed home an equaliser just five minutes later.


The Tanzanian boys were back on target in the 27th minute with yet another header, this time by team captain Mwagane Yeya. Themy Felix put it to 3-1 ten minutes later to send his side into a comfortable half time break.

The second half saw the Burundians mounting maximum pressure on Mbeya whose effort yielded a result in the 68th minute when Manirakiza Cedric scored their second goal.

Mbeya City coach, Juma Mwambusi hailed his boys for the victory and promised fireworks in the subsequent game. ‘The boys were fatigued and slowed down in the second half but I praise them for chalking maximum points’, said Mwambusi who spoke in fluent Swahili.

His hopeful counterpart Ndayizeye Jimmy congratulated Mbeya City adding, ‘we can still recover and qualify for the quarter finals’.  

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN