Berahino hails Burundi's 'sweet revenge' after Tanzania victory

Burundi striker Saido Berahino was left on cloud nine after his side edged out Tanzania 1-0 in an international friendly played at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

The Swallows put up a brave fight in front of the home fans and were eventually rewarded with a late goal when burly striker Saidi Ntibazonkiza found space outside the 18-yard area and unleashed a fierce shot which goalkeeper David Mapigano could not keep out.

The last time the two teams played against each other saw the Taifa Stars edge out the Swallows 3-0 on post-match penalties to progress to the group phase of the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.

It is the reason the former Stoke City striker Berahino, who currently plays for Belgian outfit Zulte Waregem, was happy to have earned revenge against their bitter rivals.

“I thank God for the win and I am happy we achieved it after using our plan, we had planned to shut down Tanzania from scoring goals and it worked in favour for us,” Berahino told Goal after the match.

“We defended very well, we did a fantastic job at the back and also the middle and then we got the once chance which I want to thank our former [Ntibazonkiza] for using it to score a beautiful goal from outside the box, we are very happy.

“We were using the match to prepare for our Afcon matches in November but we are also happy that we earned sweet revenge against the side which eliminated us from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, we really wanted to revenge and I thank God we have won.

“Tanzania had a new team, we have not played against some of the players before and I think this worked against Tanzania as they are yet to know each other well, it was a different team in many areas, we also had a good team which showed quality in the match.

“The win was for the Burundi people; the win was for you.”

On his part, Taifa Stars assistant captain Simon Msuva rued missed chances, saying they are to blame for not putting the game to bed especially in the first half.

“We dominated the game, we wasted many changes especially in the first half and it worked against us,” Msuva told Goal.

“I think in football we have three results draw, win or lose, we played well, we created our chances but did not use them, Burundi got one chance and used and that was it, we lost.

“We must now focus and rectify some of the mistakes we had today and then plan well for the game against Tunisia in November we will start away and they will be difficult to play against, but I know the technical bench will work on the mistakes we committed and we will be ready for the double-header.

On the red card shown to Jonas Mkude, Msuva said: “I don’t think he deserved to be sent off, it was a push and pull between both sets of players but the referee felt Mkude was on the wrong, he did not deserve to be sent off but that is part of the game.”

The Taifa Stars will be playing Tunisia on November 11 away, before hosting them in Dar es Salaam two weeks later.

The East African nation started the campaign in Group J with a 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea before losing 2-1 away to Libya in their second game.