Celebrating Taifa Stars

By: @Zamaradi_M

Celebrating Taifa Stars

I will start with a confession. I love football. I watch and follow Manchester United to the extent that I am hanging somewhere between supporting the club and being obsessed!

As for the Tanzanian Premier League, I have claimed  to support Azam FC for three years now and the closest I have come to really support the club is following them on Twitter and getting a jersey from a friend who had an extra one!

And for Taifa Stars, it is a little less embarrassing but still a shame. I remember watching Taifa Stars vs Mozambique, the first ever match we played at the brand new world class Uwanja Wa Taifa. We lost by one and someone was peeling onions next to me which was the reason for the tears in my eyes that day.

Since then I have watched ALL of Stars home matches until somewhere in 2010. (Thanks to NMB for the VIP tickets to NMB Brand Ambassadors between late 2008 and 2010.)

Last time I watched Taifa Stars; Ngassa was the ish, Kaseja was 'banned' from the national team and Maximo couldn't pronounce Nsajigwa. And now Kaseja is the Captain, Maximo is gone and almost forgotten, Poulsen is the boss and there is Samatta and Ulimwengu, who until this morning I didn't even know how they look like.

So, before you think I am judging you, think again.

Sunday, 24^th March 2013. Taifa Stars beat the Morocco by 3 – 1 in the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers in which we are just a point behind the Ivory Coast and 4 above the Morocco. And before that we won against Kenya, Zambia and Cameroon.

We had some positive and negative reactions, and believe it or not some of those negatives were coming from fellow Tanzanians!

I am a dreamer, a believer and yet I am not blind to the obvious. So, in all fairness Taifa Stars might or might not make it to Brazil in 2014. We don't know anything for sure yet, but why waste time and energy worrying instead of celebrating what we have now?

Why are we so negative about our very own national team? What is our excuse for not supporting Taifa Stars by 110%?

Some say it is because they lack consistence. And same people have been supporting Arsenal and Liverpool, season in season out! Some say players are not united as a team. And same people have been supporting Real Madrid! Some say they do not respect the coaches. And same people are supporting Chelsea! Truth is, we do not have any valid reasons to not support Stars.

If we all get behind Stars and support them with all we have, they will definitely get far. How would they be divided within the team if we scream and cheer their names in one voice? How could millions of Tanzanians fail to unite 20+ players?

Let us support them even more than we support the European Clubs we are so crazy about. 

The same support we showed Luis Suarez and John Terry even when they were found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra and Anton Ferdinand.

The same support we showed as we booed and abused Super Roy Keane when he gave HIS opinion that Luis Nani's card was well deserved. That opinion was actually a fact proven by UEFA.

The same support we show towards Lionel Messi and call him Messiah even when he angrily kicks the ball to Real Madrid's supporters and injure one.

The same support we show towards Pepe even when everybody calls him The Assassin and have video clips to prove that he is,well at least an assassin in a football world.

We support European clubs blindly, why can't we do the same for  OUR Taifa Stars?

Most of us probably don't understand the power of supporters in a football match. Why do you think players say away matches are the hardest? Why do we have a home advantage? Why do away goals matter even in big competition like the UEFA Champions League? The pitch is of the same size, playing against eleven men as usual, the only difference is those millions encouraging their home side while discouraging the visitors. That's the difference.

Do you know why supporters are referred to as the 12^th man? It's because our support from the stands is as good as being the 12^th man in that pitch.

Fans have a big impact on the results. Big clubs such as Bayern Munich, Liverpool, PSG, AC Milan, Lazio, Portsmouth, CSKA Moscow know that and that is why they retired Number 12 for their fans.

It's even proven that the noise from the fans can impact the referees decision and for every 10,000 fans in the stadium, a team increases their goal advantage by 10%.

We have away game to Morocco then we host Ivory Coast on 14^th June. I say, we as fans play our part by making use of all 60,000 seats (we can spare a few for Ivorians). If 10,000 fans is 10 percent lets make our 58% contribution and leave the 42% to the players.

So, are we going to proudly put our Taifa Stars jerseys and be the 12^th man on the stands or sit and complain and worry about what was, what might or might not happen? Are you going to scold us who have not been 110% behind Stars till this late? We can do that and gain nothing, or we can come together as a country and do our best.

They say that we have made a statement by beating Zambia, Cameroon and Morocco. We have proven to be competitors and not participants by being rivals to Ivory Coast when everybody was betting against us. And now every team coming to Tanzania will take us seriously, no reserves. They will bring the best they have. And we say; We are ready for you, Bring it on.

Let us enjoy this journey, one game at a time. So, until June 7^th Tanzania is celebrating a massive win against Morocco.

And for ToT, let's trend #TzBrazil2014

PS: For some serious motivation.