Shawn Osimbo in Cairo @PeopleSports11
Harambee Stars captain and Tottenham Hotspur star Victor Wanyama has called on his team-mates to gift him a belated birthday gift by beating neighbours Tanzania in a do-or-die Group C match at the 30 June Stadium today.
Wanyama celebrated his 27th birthday on Tuesday at the team’s hotel in Cairo, but noted that there will be no better gift than a win against neighbours Tanzania, that could revive their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages.
Both Kenya and Tanzania lost their opening group matches 2-0 to Algeria and Senegal respectively and they are both aware that a second defeat today would effectively knock them out of the competition.
“A win against Tanzania will be a late birthday gift for me. We didn’t play very well in hour opening match against Algeria, but we have picked ourselves up and we are very optimistic ahead of our second match on Thursday,” Wanyama said. Meanwhile, former Harambee Stars and Inter Milan midfielder McDonald Mariga has asked national team players not to under rate Tanzania’s Taifa Stars.
Going by the latest Fifa rankings, Tanzania enters today’s match as under dogs, the match can go either way.
“Morale is high in the team as I saw during their training on Tuesday and I expect them to beat Tanzania, they should, however, not under rate their opponents,” said Mariga who is also the elder brother of Wanyama.
