National Team Face Kobs

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

William Njuguna and Angwenyi Gichana

3 May 2011

KENYA will face Uganda in June for the final qualifying round for the All Africa Games planned for Maputo Mozambique in September.

The Uganda side known as the Kobs beat Tanzania 3-1 in the return leg in Dar-es-salaam to complete a 5-2 aggregate win over the opponents.

Needing at least a goal victory to advance, Tanzania’s Vijana Stars fumbled in front of their teeming fans in their bid for a place at the continental version of the Olympic Games. The visiting Kobs dominated the encounter and were up by the 17th minute through Sadam Ibrahim, who fired home from close range. Hamisi Kiza doubled the lead in 34 minutes to hand the visitors a two-goal lead.

Simba striker Mbwana Simata gave the host fans some hope with his strike early in the second half but Kiza killed off their ambitions with his side’s third goal on 75 minutes. Newly appointed national under-23 coach Ezekiel Akwana said the side will be well prepared to face the Ugandans in June for the two-legged showdown.”We did not have the best of preparations but now we have time on our side to face the Ugandans and we hope to be competitive in the match,” he added. Kenya were given a walk-over after Eritrea failed to turn up for the second leg, owing to travel constraints. Akwana said he will field a competitive team drawn from players in the Kenya Premier League for the match.”I want us to have an experienced team for the match against Uganda and I will be looking at players from the Premier League and those from the Talent Academy,” he added. Akwana asked Football Kenya Limited (KFL) not to wait till the last minute to prepare the team.”We need to start preparations early to avoid the last minute planning as it was the case against Eritrea,” he noted.

Football Kenya Limited (FKL) official Hussein Swaleh has promised the side friendly matches in the build-up for the match against Uganda.Meanwhile, the going is getting tough for Kisii-based Gusii Shabana in the Nationwide Division One League. The club, targeting a return to the Kenya Premier League, lost their weekend fixtures in Kisumu and Nakuru. On Saturday, the club went down 1-3 to Real Kisumu at Moi Stadium and lost 0-1 to AC Nakuru also away 24 hours later. The club has now lost all their away matches, won three home games and drawn once. “Our away form is poor and we need to improve on it,” said coach Rashid Omar.

He also complained against poor officiating and poor playing fields. “In Nakuru, we played on very poor field and the officiating was also poor,” he added.

He, however, said his team has learnt from their mistakes and will build on it in their forthcoming games. “We have many more matches to come and there is no need to panic. As I said earlier, we need to win all our home matches,” he added.

The club now has two weeks to prepare for matches against Naivasha clubs Homegrown and Oserian on May 14 and 15, according to Omar.

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