Why we lost: Poor preparations cost us in Zanzibar, says AFC Leopards coach James Nandwa

Speaking about the team’s performance, Nandwa said:” There is no excuse at all for our poor performance. We decided to take part in the tournament and we accept the poor results. On a positive note, however it was a great learning experience, which we need to build on for better results in future.”

The coach remains delighted that the event gave him an opportunity to test his new signings but insists perhaps they should have trained more and even flown to the venue of the tournament.

TRY new signings

“We had an opportunity to try out our new signings and I can say they are all impressive. Having said that, I wish we had more time to prepare and also flown to the venue instead of spending 15 hours on the road. This had an impact on the overall performance,” he added.

Asked whether it was a bad idea to participate in the event, Nandwa said: “It was both good and bad.  On the positive side, we got a chance to expose our new players and understand our weaknesses. On the negative side, we did not prepare well and we should not have expected to do well.

long season

“Our players had just come from a long season and needed time to rest before embarking on any competition. The players needed time to get into the right mind frame as most of our opponents are still in competition mode,” said Nandwa.

The coach, however, assured fans that they will do well in the coming season as the team moves to camp in Mumias next week in preparation for both the Kenyan Premier League and Confederations Cup as well as defence of the GOtv Shield.

“We are as disappointed as our fans are. We expected better results but want to assure them not to give up. This performance has just given us the extra motivation to do well by learning from our failure,” Nandwa added.

He also revealed that the tournament has left him having to grapple with injuries on key players like Allan Wanga, Jacob Keli and Jackson Saleh.