Tanzania’s under-17 women’s national football team (Serengeti Girls) will camp for ten days in Southampton, the United Kingdom, ahead of the Fifa World Cup finals scheduled to be held in India from October 11 to 30.
A 36-member contingent left the country yesterday for Southampton. The contingent comprises 23 players and 13 officials, according to Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) information officer Clifford Ndimbo.
Ndimbo said that while in the UK, the team will undergo training until October 6 before departing for Dubai and later connect to Mumbai ahead of the start of the competition.
“While in England, the team will have a special training session and play a number of build-up matches aimed at gauging the players’ skills before competing in India. We have the mission and vision of doing our best in the competition,” he said.
However, Ndimbo was not ready to name the players who have travelled to the UK.
He thanked the government for its support of the team while they trained in Tanzania until their departure for the UK ahead of the world’s biggest women’s under-17 competition.
The team will launch their campaign against Japan on October 12 at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the city of Margao.
The match is scheduled to kick off at 8pm (6.30pm Tanzanian time), according to fixtures released by Fifa.
The fixtures show that the group’s opening match will be between Canada and France, and will kick off at 2.30pm Tanzanian time.
Serengeti Girls will face France on October 15 at the same venue, starting at 8.30pm, and their last group stage match will be against Canada at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
France will face Japan at the same time at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao.
The fixtures show that the opening match will be between Morocco and Brazil in Group A, and will kick off at 4.30pm (2.30pm Tanzanian time) and hosts India will face US from 8pm (6.30pm Tanzanian time).
Meanwhile, the national under-17 football team (Serengeti Boys) left the country yesterday for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of the kickoff of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) Championship.
