Stars face Lions as FKF chair Nyamweya promises more friendlies to build a winning outfit

Harambee Stars' captain Victor Mugabe (left) and Dennis Odhiambo train at Safaricom Kasarani Stadium on October 9, 2014. [PHOTO: DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD]

National team Harambee Stars play Morocco’s Atlas Lions tonight in Marakech in an international friendly match in one of the venues to host next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals. 

Harambee Stars are out of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers after losing out to Lesotho in the pre-qualifiers. It has been more than 10 years since Stars last played in the finals of the competition and perhaps taking on Morocco will be a major inspiration to feature in the 2017 finals whose venue is yet to be decided after Libya pulled out of hosting.

The biggest concern in today’s match is who will replace Kenyan striker Dennis Oliech. Harambee Stars have been struggling to score goals. Kenyan coach Bobby Williamson said he wants a fresh start.

“We are not going to need Oliech for this match against Morocco. He has done a lot for Kenya but we must now move on and build new strikers who will take over,” Williamson said during training last week.

 

NAMING FINAL TEAM

He kept his word when naming the final team to travel to Morocco by sidelining Oliech. However, Williamson still has limited options after three other strikers Jesse Were (Tusker), Allan Wanga (El-Mereikh) and Timothy Otieno (Gor Mahia) pulled out of the team.

But all is not lost for Williamson who still has some young strikers in Timona Wanyonyi and Enock Agwanda who are eager to prove themselves at this big stage.

Elsewhere, Harambee Stars left for Morocco on Friday night, hours after players received their allowances amounting to more than Sh1 million.

Football Kenya Federation chairman Sam Nyamweya who paid out the money said they are confident Harambee Stars will do well in this friendly match.

 

IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

“When we’re locked out of the 2015 qualifiers, it was not a good picture but with time, we have to appreciate that it may have been a blessing in disguise because we now have an opportunity to build a new team with this kind of build matches,” he said.

Nyamweya urged the players to maintain discipline to help them improve in their performance.

“Discipline is a key element if you ever want to get better. As a federation we will continue to do our best to help improve on the performance of the team.
“On your part, it is important to keep on working hard and take advantage of the opportunities which come your way,” Nyamweya said.

He further revealed that a major international friendly match is being planned for March next year. “Being eliminated from African Cup of Nations qualifiers was a blessing in disguise for us. In this regard we will organise as many friendly matches as possible.

“Furthermore, we are hoping to host 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals and this will provide a major platform to sell our players abroad,” he said.

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