Rogasian Kaijage has been named new head coach of the national women’s football team, the Twiga Stars.Kaijage replaces Charles Boniface Mkwasa who resigned after failing to guide the Twiga Stars to women’s version of the Africa Nations Cup last year.
Rogasian KaijageKaijage, a youth football coach and instructor was appointed by the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) technical committee recently.Kaijage faces a big challenge to rebuild the Twiga Stars following the team’s self destructing 2012 African Women’s Championship qualifying campaign.
The local queens, against all predictions, failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Women’s finals in Equatorial Guinea at the final hurdle when they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Ethiopia to the dismay of many Tanzanian football supporters,
The local queens started the qualifier promisingly when they defeated Namibia 2–0 in the preliminary round in Windhoek and 5–2 in Dar es Salaam.Against all predictions, they put up a poor show lost to Ethiopia 2–1 in the first round, first leg clash in Addis Ababa and went down to a 1–0 defeat in the return leg in Dar es Salaam.
Mkwasa resigned two days after their defeat against Ethiopia and the following day, Nasra Mohammed, the assistant coach, blamed inadequate financial support from the TFF for the failure to advance.Mkwasa admitted that he had dismissed several players from the team after discovering that they had engaged in homosexual acts.
At a subsequent news conference, Mkwasa claimed he had been misquoted. Lina Mhando, the chairperson of Tanzania Women Football, called it a “non-existing scandal” and said there is no concrete proof of the allegations. The team manager, Furaha Francis, said that regardless of whether the scandal exists, it has been blown out of proportion and that there is no proof to substantiate the allegations.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed trainer has summoned 30 players to join the Stars squad for a 10-day training programme starting tomorrow.The players and their respective clubs in brackets are Amina Ally (Lord Barden), Asha Rashid (Mburahati Queens), Aziza Mwadini (Zanzibar), Esther Chabruma (Sayari), Esther Mayalla (TSC Academy), Etoe Mlenzi (JKT), Evelyn Sekikubo (Mbarahati Queens), Fatuma Bushiri (Simba Queens), Fatuma Mustafa (Sayari) and Fatuma Omari (Sayari).
Others are Flora Kayanda (Tanzanite), Hamisa Athuman (Marsh Academy), Hellen Maduka (Bujora), Hellen Peter (JKT), Irene Ndibalema (TSC Academy), Maimuna Said (JKT), Mwajuma Abdallah (Tanzanite), Mwanaidi Tamba (Mburahati Queens), Mwanahamis Omari (Mburahati Queens) and Mwapewa Mtumwa (Sayari).
The list also include Nabila Ahmed (Marsh Academy), Nasiria Hashim (Zanzibar), Pulkeria Charaji (Sayari), Rukia Khamis (Sayari), Semeni Abeid (Tanzanite), Sharida Boniface (Makongo Sekondari), Sophia Mwasikili (Luleburgaz Gucu Spor, Uturuki), Theresa Yona (TSC Academy), Vumilia Maarifa (Evergreen) and Zena Khamis (Mburahati Queens).
