The former Taifa Stars custodian explains how his rivalry to don the number one jersey made them great keepers in Tanzania
Former Tanzania custodian Ivo Mapunda has claimed his fight for the number one spot with Juma Kaseja propelled them to be among the best shot-stoppers in the country.
The duo played together for the national team at one point in their professional careers with both being good at saving penalties, a quality which made them popular among sports fans.
Mapunda has revealed there was big competition for the goalkeeping position at the Taifa Stars during coach Marcio Maximo’s era between him and Kaseja, insisting the situation made them work harder.
“It was a healthy competition aimed at getting playing time and nothing else. We used to work hard during training sessions to earn a chance of being featured in the Stars squad which was not easy then,” Mapunda is quoted by Daily News.
“I remember the period when we used to camp at Karume hostels during individual training sessions, we were not doing them together but when it came to group training programs, we did them together.
“The first priority of a good goalkeeper is not to concede goals and not necessarily to train for the sake of targeting individual strikers from the opposite team not to score.”
“You need to respect the whole team of the opponents and not specific players since goalkeepers become happy when they post a clean sheet from a particular game.”
He, however, disclosed by the time he joined Simba, some leaders of the club were not happy with the move as they believed he was a Young Africans (Yanga SC) fan hence he would be conceding goals easily.
“I remember my first game in Simba gear was a traditional derby against Yanga in ‘Nani Mtani Jembe’ and luck enough, we won that game which slowly began to win confidence from Simba leaders,” he added.
Mapunda is one of the few lucky goalkeepers in Tanzania who managed to cross borders to pursue their career outside the country.
As he chose to hang up his magic gloves, his comrade Kaseja is still active on the battlefield playing for KMC and Taifa Stars.
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