TANZANIA will have no room for complacency when they entertain DR Congo this afternoon.

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Group H encounter will be held at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium from 4pm. 

Sitting one and three points clear of Guinea and Ethiopia respectively, Tanzania will now have to navigate a three-way battle in the race to qualify alongside DR Congo, who already have one foot in the 2025 AFCON finals. 

With two games against Guinea and Ethiopia to come next month, victory against DR Congo would leave Taifa Stars in the lead to join DR Congo for a ticket to Morocco. 

Tanzania endured a 1-0 defeat against DR Congo on Thursday, with Clement Mzize scoring an own goal early in the second half. That was the first defeat in six games across all competitions for Taifa Stars, dating back to a friendly 2-1 defeat to Sudan back in May, after which they had picked up three wins and two draws. 

While Taifa Stars will be looking to bounce back from that defeat and get their qualifying journey back on track, they will need to translate possession dominance into goals. 

Against DR Congo last week, they dominated proceedings without threatening their hosts, something that they must reverse today. 

Caretaker head coach Hemed ‘Morocco’ Suleiman is likely to name a similar starting XI to the side that lost to DR Congo last time out following an impressive performance despite the result. 

Goalkeeper Ally Salim could start behind centre-backs Dickson Job and Ibrahim Hamad ‘Bacca’, while Mudathir Yahya and Adolf Bitegeko may start in a double pivot. 

Lusajo Mwaikenda could start on the right of attack alongside while Mohamed Hussein features on the left side. 

Captain Mbwana Samatta may be partnered in attack with Dennis Kibu and Feisal Salum with Mzize positioned as the out and out centre forward once again. 

As for DR Congo, they are one of six teams still with a perfect record in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers going into the fourth round of fixtures. 

With Thursday's victory, DR Congo have now picked up four successive wins from their last five matches across all competitions, including an away draw against Senegal in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers back in June. 

The team has also registered four consecutive clean sheets while scoring five goals in the process. 

It is the kind of form that gives them belief and hope of securing a victory that is needed to guarantee themselves a place in Morocco with two games to spare.