WITH countless Tanzanians still basking in the glory of the Taifa Stars’ brilliant qualification for the 2025 AFCON, it goes without saying that there is a feel-good factor among Tanzanians across the length and breadth of our great country.

Following the Taifa Stars’ splendid exertions to seal a spot at the AFCON finals next year, in the end, it all came down to one final testing battle against Guinea last Tuesday in what turned out to be a real cliffhanger.

With three points up for grabs, both sides resolutely started the football contest at the stately Benjamin Mkapa stadium in Dar es Salaam knowing fully well that a win for the victors would clinch qualification for the AFCON and that a loss would spell doom for the unfortunate losing team.

Since the first half ended scoreless, the Taifa Stars came out in the second half with a steely determination to net that much-needed opening goal in what was a dicey encounter.

In the 61st minute of the nail-biting matchup, a near-perfectly weighted cross from Mudathir Yahya unerringly flew to Simon Msuva, who spectacularly got on the score-sheet with a sublime diving header.

Try as they might, Guinea incredibly tried to net an equalizer but all of their efforts ultimately proved to be in vain.

And, with the sea of ardent Tanzanian football fans in attendance at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium loudly cheering on the Stars, the final whistle blew at last, which prompted the home fans to enter into a state of euphoria.

Speaking of jubilation, there are good grounds to believe that we are progressing in an extremely promising fashion where our football is concerned.

Lest we forget, it should be noted that our senior national women’s football team, who are affectionately dubbed the Twiga Stars, sewed up their qualification for the elite 2025 Women’s AFCON (WAFCON) finals earlier this year.

In addition, the national men’s under-20 football team magnificently outplayed our fierce East African rivals to wonderfully qualify for the 2025 Under-20 AFCON.

Therefore, considering that our various national men’s and women’s football teams will be vying for top honours on different fronts, it may not be jumping the gun to believe that 2025 could well be an Annus Mirabilis for Tanzanian football.

Still on football, our two local behemoths, Young Africans SC and Simba SC are presently undergoing intense training for their opening group stage clashes in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup respectively.

For Young Africans’ part, the Jangwani Street-based football outfit will be seeking to return to winning ways after their brief run of two straight defeats before the international break.

Indeed, those unwanted losses for Young Africans compelled the club’s upper echelons of leadership to give the team’s ex coach Miguel Gamondi the heave-ho.

Following the dismissal of Gamondi, Young Africans hired the German tactician Sead Ramovic to turn around the team’s fortunes.

As for Young Africans’ bitter rivals, Simba SC, the Msimbazi Street-based side head confidently into their opening match of the CAF Confederations Cup’s Group Stage after topping the Mainland Premier League prior to the international break.

Thus, with both Young Africans SC and Simba SC scheduled to play this week in continental football’s greatly esteemed championships, let us hope that both juggernauts prevail in their respective group stage openers.