Few players hold the honour of scoring the most important goal in their country’s history. One Tanzanian earned the distinction at the weekend… and lost it three days later!
The African nation is making its first appearance in a FIFA competition at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022™. Up until Tuesday, the honour of scoring their all-time most significant goal had gone to Diana Mnally for her winner in the 2-1 defeat of France in the group stage. That all changed when Veronica Mapunda struck the equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Canada in Tanzania’s final group match – a result that took them into the quarter-finals.
“I’m so excited,” said Mapunda. “It’s not just a landmark goal for the nation, but for our own history and our legacy. I’m very proud of myself too and my country.”
It was a strike made all the more special by the fact that Canada had made the better start to the game and that defeat would have meant elimination for Tanzania.
“I felt so good when I scored,” added Mapunda. “We needed it. It’s given us the chance to go and play in the quarter-finals. I’m so happy that we’re working together as a unit, as a team, and that we all contributed to me scoring the equaliser.”
The forward hopes their achievement can inspire Tanzania’s other national teams to similar heights.
“We feel that we’re showing people at home and our other teams, like the U-20s and the seniors, that they can fight too,” she said. “And not just the women’s teams but the men’s teams too, who’ve never qualified for a World Cup either.”
Tanzania’s feat in reaching the last eight is made all the more impressive by the stature of the opponents they finished above to get there. France won the U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2012, while Canada placed fourth at the last edition of the tournament.
“It looked like a tough group, for sure,” said Mapunda. “But we kept our faith in God and our coach and we worked together.
“This might be our first World Cup, but we have been playing in tournaments. We’d been paying attention to our coach and we were ready to fight. We’re delighted with what we’ve achieved.”
Waiting for Tanzania in Saturday’s quarter-final are Linda Caicedo and Colombia. Despite the scale of that challenge, the Africans are continuing to dream.
“I think this was our first big step,” said Mapunda. “We need to listen to our coach’s guidance and have faith in God. We’re going to try to go even further, all the way to the final maybe, and do our country proud.”
For the time being at least, Mapunda holds the honour of scoring of Tanzania’s most important goal of all time, though that could well change by the time India 2022 comes to an end.
Source: FIFA.com