DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 24 -- Two down, one to go THAT was the headline I had lined up, gleaming in the draft folder, waiting to be uploaded with the smugness of a man who knows his neighbours will not sleep.

Kenya had already done their part by bowing out to Madagascar earlier, bless them.

All that remained was for us, Tanzania, to topple Morocco and establish ourselves as the saviours of East Africa at the CHAN 2024.

The memes were sharpened, the hashtags rehearsed, the jokes polished like shoes for Eid. This was to be our night of reckoning.

Except it wasnt.

Because while Kenya was out courtesy of penalties and heartbreak, we were out courtesy of a single, efficient Moroccan goal.

Oussama Lamlioui tapping in our funeral notice with a...