Dar Es Salaam — Tanzania beat Sudan 1-0 in an earlier match but both teams join Somalia in going home early after failing to garner enough points, as the Cecafa Under-20 football preliminary round came to an end at the Asmara Stadium, in Eritrea on Monday.

Tanzania youngsters, dubbed Ngorongoro Heroes, scored their lone goal in the 49th minute through substitute Lambele Gerome. The win took Heroes' points tally to four, but proved nothing than consolation for the Rodrigo Stockler's side who were mathematically out of the contention for the semifinal spots when they crashed to a 3-0 defeat to Kenya last Saturday.

They were joined by Yemen and Zanzibar from Group B who were on their way home as well following the conclusion of preliminary rounds.

Meanwhile, hosts Eritrea beat Kenya 1-0, in the process picked Rwanda as their semi final opponents. Kenya who finished Group A in second place face defending champions Uganda in the semi finals set for Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Against Kenya, Eritrea scored in the 58th minute through Meron Hebteslus who walked in the ball past Kenya second choice goalkeper Musa Mohamed, who otherwise had a great afternoon. The match was played, especially the second half, on a waterlogged pitch following heavy rains.

They faired better in these conditions as their opponents were done by their insistence on playing ground football. But the Kenyan coach, Vince Ombiji, was not disturbed saying the defeat could be a blessing in disguise.

"If Eritrea play well (against Rwanda) we shall beat them in the final," he told a post match press conference. "You can only win a tournament like this by beating the hosts and defending champions. We are faced by both and it is our plan to beat them both," he said. He blamed his boys for not adopting properly to the pitch conditions.

"They needed to push the ball harder but they did not and we lost," he said. His Eritrean counterpart Negash Teklit said Rwanda, who are fielding an Under-17 side, may not be an easy meal. "No one expected them to reach this far.

Now that they have, they may turn out to be problem," he said. But he was optimistic that his side would make the final, predicting that Kenya would be their opponents, that far. "We played a determined game, knowing that Kenya was not going to be easy, and it worked," he said.