Business in Tanzania will be suspended on Wednesday night for at least two hours as the national men’s football team, Taifa Stars, faces the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a crucial African Cup of Nations (AFCON) fixture.

Tanzania, renowned for their Bongo Fleva music, will go head-to-head with the Leopards of DRC, who take pleasure in their Lingala music. The match is scheduled to kick off at 11 pm East African Time at the 20,000-capacity Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo, Ivory Coast.

With just one group stage match left to play, Tanzania is at the bottom of Group F with a single point. They lost their opener 3-0 to Morocco and drew the second match 1-1 with ten-man Zambia.

To have any chance of qualifying for the knockout phase, Taifa Stars must accomplish a feat they have never achieved before – defeating DRC in Wednesday’s showdown.

Tanzania is the sole representative of East Africa at the 2023 AFCON finals. This is a sharp decline from 2019 when the region was represented by four nations – Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi.

Taifa Stars have played eight matches at the continental showpiece. Of the eight, they have managed two draws (in 1980 and 2023) and lost a whopping six. A win is still a mirage.

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In both editions, 1980 and 2019, the East African nation finished bottom of the group. In the 1980 edition, Taifa Stars were in Group A hosts Nigeria, Egypt, and Ivory Coast – they finished last.

Worse was the story in the 2019 edition, held in Egypt and won by Algeria, Tanzania were in Group C alongside neighbours Kenya and finalists Senegal and Algeria. They lost all their group matches and crashed out as the bottom-placed team.