Mainland football team, The Kilimanjaro Stars, take on invites Zimbabwe in the final group A match of the Challenge Cup at the national Stadium in Dar es Salaam today.
Stars with three points, same as their opponents, will be looking to win the quarterfinal progression in the tournament.
Both teams have won and lost a game and today’s tie would open the route for either side to cruise into the last eight.
The loser of the match will kiss a hand of goodbye from the championship while a draw is likely to send both teams into the last eight, one of them on best loser’s ticket.
Mainland stands to benefit from any sort of a draw basing on their good goal aggregates.
While Zimbabwe have a neutral goal aggregate, Mainland boasts of positive two. A win or a draw for the Mainland side would guarantee them a place in the last eight as runners up in the group.
Should that happen, then Mainland have Burundi at their doorstep before wining the semifinal berth.
Burundi finished the group B as winners with seven points to edge Uganda who are to meet runners-up in group C.
In another match to conclude the preliminaries, Kenya meet Sudan today to decide the second group C team to progress into the quarters. A loss for either side would see being eliminated.
The pressure piles on Sudan who have two points out of as many games while Kenya need to draw and sail through.
A draw would benefit Harambee Stars who already have three points to their collection kit.