Dar Es Salaam — It is do or die for the Tanzania national youth soccer team, Ngorongoro Heroes, as they take on Kenya in a decisive Cecafa Under-20 Championship match at the National Stadium in Asmara, Eritrea.

It is a must win game for the Mainlanders if their contention for the semi -finals is anything to go by. A slip in today's clash would see them catch the next available flight. Rodrigo Stockler's side must redeem themselves after somewhat poor start to the championship.

They lost 1-0 to hosts Eritrea in their opening match, and couldn't bounce back in their second outing as they were held to a 1-1 draw with lowly Somalia. The results put Heroes semifinal aspirations in jeopardy; they now face an uphill task as they must win against Kenya today and Sudan on Monday to have any hopes of going through.

Meanwhile, the regional youth championship continued on Thursday with Sudan and Eritrea playing to a 1-1 draw in a hotly contested and tension charged Group A match. The match was halted for some 20 minutes from the tenth minute due to poor lights and for five minutes early in the second half as Sudan protested Eritrea's equaliser.

Eritrea started strongly running rings around their opponents. But this only lasted for ten minutes before their rhythm was interrupted by a power surge that left a section of the pitch in semi darkness. The 20 minutes wait for things to get better helped slow down the Eritreans who remained under siege for the rest of the game.

Sudan were on target first when Abdelrahim Ishaq saw his free-kick deflected past goalkeeper Samuel Alazar in the 38th minute. Eritrea equalised in the 47th minute when Tedros Abraham scored from the spot after goalkeeper Kur Albino dangerously charged an Eritrean attacker.

It took five minutes to get the Sudanese back into action after some of their officials had tried to pull them off the pitch. Sudan dominated play creating many chances but finding the target was the bigger problem.

With this result, Kenya who earlier on won 6-0 against Somalia lead the Group with four points, same as Eritrea, who otherwise have an inferior goal aggregate. Sudan and Somalia have two points apiece while Tanzania trail with one point.