Dar es Salaam. After watching Real Madrid
legends play at the National Stadium on Saturday, President Jakaya
Kikwete is optimistic that the current galacticos including the World
Player of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo, will also tour the country.
The former Real Madrid stars led by legendary Luis
Figo played Tanzania XI and cruised to a 3-1 victory with Ruben de la
Red grabbing a hat-trick.
Impressed by their visit, President Kikwete hosted
a dinner at the State House where he hailed organisers of the tour and
expressed optimism of seeing Ronaldo and co play at the 60,000-seater
facility.
“Tanzania has a large base of Real Madrid fans as
you all witnessed at the stadium, so our dream now is see the reigning
Uefa Champions League winners come and play with our teams here,” said
the sports loving president.
Kikwete called on Spain ambassador to Tanzania,
Luis Manuel Cuesta, to work on the possibility of bringing the La Liga
heavyweights to the country.
“The ambassador (Cuesta) is here, so I am
confident that he will help in the arrangement of bringing the Uefa
champions,” said Kikwete who later awarded the legends some Makonde
carvings.
Speaking during the same occasion, TSN Group of
Companies managing director, Farough Baghozah expressed his gratitude to
the government and sponsors for supporting them in making the event a
success.
Figo’s advice
Figo, the 2001 Fifa World Player of the Year, said
Tanzania like any other African country, has a lot of talented players,
calling on the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to improve scouting
and grooming skills.
“The main problem in football development is
management. Football is very wide and most of the European and Latin
American countries have attained growth in soccer because they embarked
on apt programmes from the grassroots.
“If you want success, you have to scout the right
players and develop them, this will make Tanzania one of the respected
footballing nations,” said the Portuguese.
Cannavaro
The Italian defender echoed Figo’s remarks,
stressing that there is no short cut in football rather than
establishing and maintaining strong youth programmes.
Cannavaro expressed his delight playing in
Tanzania and praised the ability of their Saturday opponents (ex-Taifa
Stars players).
He said he got a real picture of the country’s
soccer, saying there are many talents that need proper guidance to
become world beaters.
“I am very happy to visit this country; it is my first time being here and we played against talented former Tanzania stars.
“Tanzania has many talented players and the only
way to make the national team succeed on the international stage is to
invest more in youth academies,” said Cannavaro.
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