WITH the 2025 AFCON qualifiers now up and running, there is a sense of disappointment among die-hard Tanzanian football fans over the outcome of the Stars’ opening qualifier against Ethiopia last Wednesday.

Fielding a mostly youthful side, the Taifa Stars tellingly lacked a much-needed killer instinct in and around their opponents’ 18-yard box.

And, with the Ethiopians largely playing a defensive game, it was not a surprise that the consequential face-off disappointingly ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Having thus earned a minute single point from their opening AFCON qualifier, Taifa Stars face an all-important, do-or-die football contest against tricky customers Guinea today at the Charles Banny Stadium in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.

Indeed, considering their arguably shaky start, Taifa Stars cannot afford a gigantic slip-up against Guinea today as more dropped points could prove to be disastrously costly on the Stars’ path ahead.

It should be noted that some keen football enthusiasts on the local scene have called for the inclusion of the country’s seasoned football stars like the reliably menacing winger, Simon Msuva, for example in the national football team.

One point that should be highlighted is the fact that only time will tell if Taifa Stars are in need of our greatly experienced veterans or not.

What cannot be questioned is the fact that Taifa Stars will need to utterly try their damnedest to get the better of the ever challenging Guineans in the key 2025 AFCON qualifier today.

Let us now ponder on Simba SC’s CAF Confederations Cup campaign, which is set to commence on September 14 against their hosts Al Ahly Tripoli at the Tripoli International Stadium in Libya.

Indeed, following an uncharacteristically lackluster campaign last season, the Msimbazi Street-based outfit are likely champing at the bit to begin their bid for continental glory.

As they plot the downfall of Al Ahly Tripoli, Simba would do well to remember that their opponents are not to be sniffed at.

As history amply shows, underestimating one’s opponents even in these early days of the CAF Confederations Cup is done at one’s peril.

In light of that, one hopes that Simba will head into their first leg battle against their Libyan hosts with a potent mixture of confidence and an awareness of their opponents’ strengths.

Let us now switch our focus to the appalling and hurtful matter of racism, which reared its ugly head roughly around the start of the brand new English Premier League (EPL) campaign.

Indeed, the issue of racism being alluded to here concerns Chelsea’s Argentinean playmaker, Enzo Fernandes, who recently live-streamed an insulting racist song on social media that was sung by himself and his fellow Argentinean players about the Gallic players of the French national football team.

For some unfathomable reason, multiple Argentinean national team players took to singing a racist song that taunted the African origins of some players on the French national football team.

This disgusting incident took place in the hours following Argentina’s triumph at the Copa America, and it was rightly condemned by all and sundry.

Indisputably, it is wholly bizarre that Argentina chose to engage in this damnable racist behavior when the European football heavyweights had not even featured in the Copa America.

However, as if that were not enough, what really took the biscuit was the shocking fact that Chelsea’s head coach Enzo Maresca deemed it fitting to appoint Fernandes as the skipper of the EPL giants nicknamed the Blues.

Needless to say, this move by the Chelsea head coach justifiably raised the ire of many pundits and football fans alike.

Regrettably, it also demonstrates that we still have an extremely long way to go before we can successfully rid football of the damaging effects of racism.