Tanzanian Midfielder Feisal Salum Confident Ahead of AFCON 2025 After Strong CHAN Campaign

Tanzania midfielder Feisal Salum believes the Taifa Stars can carry the momentum and confidence gained from their Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) performances into the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025, where the nation will be making its fourth appearance at the continental showpiece.

Speaking to CAFonline, the Azam FC playmaker explained that the demanding nature of the CHAN tournament has played a major role in preparing the squad mentally and tactically for AFCON.

“Everyone is really motivated after what we did in CHAN,” Salum said. “Those were very tough matches, almost similar to AFCON in intensity. This time it will be even harder because we’ll be facing the best African players from all over the world. But CHAN helped us build strong belief and a fighting spirit.”

Salum emphasized that competing in high-pressure matches against quality opponents has strengthened the team’s confidence and resilience ahead of the tournament in Morocco.

Reflecting on Tanzania’s previous AFCON outing in Côte d’Ivoire, the midfielder revealed that the team has taken important lessons from that experience, particularly around discipline and consistency.

“We have learnt a lot especially from Ivory Coast last time out. We need to give 100 percent in every game, there is very little room for mistakes and you must play with the highest standards of discipline,” he added.

” With these lessons, we want to do better and there is confidence in the group that we can achieve our minimum target. We have a very strong playing unit and an experienced coach in Gamondi and we believe these are the right ingredients for us to do well.”