Nyamweya hints at Harambee Stars skipping Cecafa Challenge Cup slated for November

Nyamweya in a past function.Courtesy Picture

By Fred Maingi

Football Kenya Federation(FKF)  has hinted that Harambee Stars might
opt out of the  forthcoming  Council of East and Central Africa
Football Associations (Cecafa) tournament slated for Uganda in
November.
   FKF  Chairman Sam Nyamweya said in Nairobi that the Federation
supports  Harambee Stars  head coach Henry Michel  argument that  the
regional tournament serves no meaning to  the team.
  He disclosed that  the National Executive members(NEC) will meet to
deliberate on the issue. Speaking after witnessing the launch of the
Kass Marathon at  the Nairobi's  PanAfric Hotel on Wednesday
morning,Nyamweya said his  committee  will act officially after
receiving the coach full report on the issue.
  '"We have just seen in the Newspapers today that the coach is not
interested in plunging his players in the Uganda event.Once  he tables
his  report to the Federation, we shall act immediately.He is the key
man in that area and we shall go with his recommendation as long as it
will help the team."Observed Nyamweya.

 The coach said his focus is on the African Nations Championships
(Chan).The team is scheduled to take part in the annual tournament in
Kampala mid November but the tactician insists that their match
against Burundi in the preliminaries in December is of more importance
to the team.

“To me  the Cecafa Challenge  cup is out of my mind.I'm now  focusing
in our next match against Burundi and nothing else"the Frenchman was
quoted saying.He said it was pointless  to play after every 48 hours
for a whole week  which is  another way of draining the players.

The Stars squad, consisting of 29 players from clubs in the Tusker
Premier League, are currently training  at the Moi International
Sports Centre(MISC) Kasarani.

The Frenchman has maintained consistency in attending Premier League
matches, including those outside the city. The top six teams on the
TPL log dominate Michel’s provisional list with Tusker, AFC Leopards,
Gor Mahia, Sofapaka, Thika United and Ulinzi Stars taking the lion’s
share of his attention.

Chan, which features local-based players only, began in 2009. The
defending champions are Tunisia, who beat Angola 3-0 to lift the
title.

Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan have been exempted from preliminary
round and will begin their campaign in the first round due to the
seeding.

Kenya failed to qualify for the finals in the last edition in Sudan
despite beating Uganda Cranes 2-1.