Harambee Stars seek to roast wings of Sudan's Falcons at Nyayo

By GILBERT WANDERA

 Inter-Milan midfielder Macdonald Mariga is the biggest omission from the Harambee Stars starting line-up in today's (Saturday) LG Cup match against Sudan at Nyayo National Stadium.

Mariga just had one training session with the squad and will probably come on as a second half substitute.   Gor Mahia defender Eric Masika earns his first cap playing in a four-man defence, which also has Anthony Kimani, John Njoroge and veteran Pascal Ochieng.

Collins Okoth, who scored the lone goal when Kenya beat Sudan in January’s Nile Basin tournament held in Egypt is back in the Stars midfield which also has Titus Mulama and Kevin Ochieng.

Veteran Sofapaka striker John Barasa leads a three man attack that has also has AJ Auxerre’s Dennis Oliech and Joseph Nyagah.

Sudanese team captain Eltahir Hammad has warned Harambee Stars to expect a tough time at home.

“Stars are a good side we had a chance to watch them playing against Tunisia at home in an Africa Cup ofNations qualifier, but I want to warn them that ours is not an easy side. We are not intimidated by the homeground advantage,”

“We have managed to beat Swaziland away in the on-going Nations Cup qualifier and we can repeat the same thing here,” he said.

Hammad was a second half substitution when his side lost 1-0 to Kenya. He is among the players who are here and featured in that match for Sudan.  The others are Eclahir Hammad, Modather Eltieb, Amier Kamal and Bakary Abdilkadir.

Sudan coach Mohammed Abdalla said he does not believe the 1-0 loss they suffered against Kenya early in the year will count when the two sides meet today.

“I believe we are more prepared today because when we played in Cairo we had just resumed training one week earlier to begin preparations for the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) which we hosted and as a result we may not have been at our best,” he said.

Abdalla is expected to field at least eight players from the Sudan Under-23 side as he prepares for the up-coming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Kenyan coach Zedekiah Otieno has praised his opponents ahead of today’s match and said he expects a good opposition.

“It is great to have majority of our first team players to pick from. It enhances our preparations for up-coming qualifiers against Guinea Bissau and Uganda Cranes,” he said.