DAR ES SALAAM, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Tuesday expressed disappointment over the poor performance of the east African nation's football team in the 2019 Africa Under-17 Cup of Nations finals that ended on Sunday.
The 13th edition of the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations, a biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for players aged 17 and below, was held in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam from April 14 to April 28.
"The performance of our youth football team was disastrous. It was a shame to the nation," Magufuli told a public rally in Kyela district in the southern highlands region of Mbeya.
He added: "It is difficult to comprehend how the host team was badly beaten at the initial stages of the tournament. The Minister of Sports let me and all Tanzanians down."
Eight countries of Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola, Guinea, Senegal and Morocco competed in the tournament with Cameroon lifting the trophy on Sunday after they defeated Guinea 5-3 on penalties in the final.
The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil as the CAF representatives.Cameroon won their second title, while the other qualified teams which finished second to fourth were Guinea, Angola and Nigeria. Defending champions Mali failed to qualify.
In the initial stages of the tournament, Tanzania were beaten 4-5 by Nigeria, Uganda beat Tanzania 3-0 and Angola punished Tanzania 4-2.
