TANZANIA men’s national football team, Taifa Stars, head coach Hemed ‘Morocco’ Suleiman has praised his players' collective effort to earn a crucial victory over Zambia.

Tanzania defeated Zambia 1-0 at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, in the fourth round of African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday.

A fifth-minute strike from debutant striker Waziri Junior set the team on their way to a much-needed away victory. 

The hosts tried valiantly to find an equaliser but were denied by stout Taifa Stars defence marshalled by Ibrahim Bacca and Bakari Mwamnyeto.

The victory sees Tanzania go second on six points, three behind Group E leaders Morocco who thrashed Congo Brazzaville 6-0 to maintain their perfect record. 

This is Taifa Stars’ second away victory of the campaign, after the earlier win over Niger.

"The match was difficult," coach Morocco said during the TFF post-match interview, reacting to how the World Cup qualifier game unfolded.

He expressed his pride in his players for sticking to a game plan that was based on containing the expected pressure from a Zambian side looking to bounce back following Thursday’s loss to Morocco.

“We knew we were coming to play against Zambia who lost the last match in Morocco and are not in a good position. They were also playing at home in front of their fans but we planned to manage that pressure,” said the tactician

He continued: “I must thank my players, it was not easy. They were able to fight all the ninety minutes. The tactics we came up with have worked. Let me continue to congratulate them and I think this is over, let's look ahead.”

With the June FIFA World Cup qualifiers concluded, Tanzania will return to action in March with two matches at home to Congo and away to Morocco.

Winners of each group will automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Africa will have a total of nine teams, with the possibility of a 10th team, participating in the upcoming World Cup. 

To determine the tenth representative from Africa, CAF introduced an additional opportunity.

The four best runners-up from the groups will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament. 

The winner of this playoff will then face a team from the CONCACAF zone for a chance to secure the tenth and final spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Tanzania, with its population of 61 million people, has never played in the World Cup finals. 

Since 1966, Taifa Stars have made ten unsuccessful World Cup qualification attempts. 

In the last attempt, Taifa Stars finished third in a group that had eventual winners DR Congo, second-placed Benin, and Madagascar who ended bottom.