Tanzania winger, Tarryn Allarakhia, has acknowledged that the quality of Nigeria’s Super Eagles proved decisive in their AFCON 2025 Group C opener on Tuesday.
The Taifa Stars struggled to get off to a strong start, falling 2-1 to the Super Eagles in Morocco.
Semi Ajayi, who was named Player of the Match, broke the deadlock in the 36th minute, heading in a precise cross from Alex Iwobi.
Tanzania responded early in the second half as Kokola M’mombwa converted a well-placed cross in the 50th minute to level the score.
However, just two minutes later, Ademola Lookman restored Nigeria’s lead with a clinical left-foot finish, securing the win.
With this victory, the Super Eagles now hold a perfect record against Tanzania in AFCON meetings, having previously won their 1980 encounter 3-1. Overall, Nigeria have claimed six wins and three draws in nine clashes with the Taifa Stars.
Reflecting on the match, Allarakhia told journalists, “I think we should take the positives from what we did against Nigeria and like I said previously they are one of the favourites and for us to go out there and give it a good go I think we can take positives from it.
“We know that we need to be more organized, Nigeria have got qualities everywhere and that’s what done us with two quality goals. But again we were solid and organized and I feel we did that and we had chances to equalise and also go ahead.”
