Why Hassan loves punishing Tanzania

Bandari speedster Abdallah Hassan notched in the Harambee Stars winning goal against Tanzania in a friendly match played on Monday at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Having netted twice against Taifa Stars in the 2019 edition of the Cecafa Senior Challenge held in Uganda, the goal saw him stretch his tally in the fixture to three.

The wing wizard has uncloaked on his impressive goal returns in the fixture ahead of the second build-up against the same opponent on Thursday.

Abdallah who marked his Harambee Stars debut with an assist against Malawi in September 2018 disclosed that Tanzania's high line defending gives him room to unleash his dribbling skills and make good use of his pace and thus making it easy to get the ball past the line.

“If there is an opponent I always find easy to punish is Tanzania. Their full-backs like playing high on the pitch which gives me space and time to do what I do best. Given a chance I would score against them again and again,” he revealed.

The former Posta Rangers player who tipped Stars to dim Tanzania again when they revive their rivalry on Thursday expressed confidence with the local players’ in commanding substantial playing time in the final AFCON qualifiers.

The two matches against Egypt and Togo, are viewed as a preserve of the foreign-based players who coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee is set to summon possibly by the end of the week but Abdallah says a positive performance against Tanzania will raise their chances of competing with the pros for the starting roles.

 “A good performance against Tanzania will enhance our bargaining power for playing time in the qualifiers. I am working hard daily in camp to convince the coach to consider me against Egypt and Togo,” he added.