Busy week ahead for Kenya football
Busy week ahead for Kenya football
This week is slated to be one of the busiest sporting week for the country’s soccer players with loads of major soccer events lined up
Of the world’s interest though is the EUFA champions’ league finals encounter between Inter milan of Italy and Bayern Munich of Germany. It will be a big event for Kenya and indeed East Africa since Kenya’s Macdonald Mariga who turns out for InterMilan is expected to feature in the most coveted final. If Inter wins Mariga will become the first East African to ever win a EUFA champions league title. On Sunday Mariga ‘s Inter Milan bagged the second trophy this season after clinching the Serie A title the highest ever title won by a Kenyan soccer player.
All eyes will be glued to our sets as we witness a new historic moment for Kenyan soccer.Mariga's breakthrough and impressive perfomance serves as a ground breaker for many more talented Kenyan footballers who hope to pursue careers in Europe.
Back home, the African championships qualifier for home based players (CHAN) will be on this weekend with Kenya traveling to neighboring Uganda for a first round encounter to be played at the Namboole Stadium in Kampala. It should be remembered that Uganda cranes have not been beaten by Kenya in the recent past the latest being last year’s humiliation of Harambee stars during the CECAFA senior challenge cup played here in Nairobi. It was also embarrassing to note that during this match Uganda cranes had more fans in the stadium than the home team Harambee stars.
Twahir Muhiddin’s team has been performing dismally against the Cranes and this encounter should be used to mend the Stars’ tattered image against the Ugandans. It is however seen to be a difficult match owing to the fact that Harambee stars will be playing away and against a patriotic Ugandan fan base.
Also as a demerit to the home team is the level of preparation the team has received since they have stayed in camp for less than a month in preparation for this match.
In addition, the clash of major national fixtures I seen as poor planning. Having two major soccer events happening within the same period and involving same players who have to split their allegiance between club and nation is not fair to both parties. The Harambee stars match will coincide with the ongoing CECAFA championship in Kigali where Kenya soccer premier league champions Sofapaka fc are featuring .Sofapaka who will be playing their first game tomorrow afternoon against Uganda’s URA are seeking to shake off their poor performance in the local league by overcoming Uganda’s top brass. The match which was scheduled for Tuesday had to be brought closer when Heart land FC of Nigeria withdrew at the last minute forcing a fixture reshuffle.
Also slated for this weekend are the on going Safaricom Sakata ball competition Nairobi finals. The Sakata tournament has been held in all regions of Kenya and this weekends Nairobi finals are expected to be full of fireworks. The Safaricom under 23 Sakata competition seeks to identify talents from the grassroots and joins other corporates like Coca cola for being on the fore front to fill the youth football development gap which the government and Football governing body have failed to explore.
We wish all our teams the best of luck as they partake to represent our country.
Of the world’s interest though is the EUFA champions’ league finals encounter between Inter milan of Italy and Bayern Munich of Germany. It will be a big event for Kenya and indeed East Africa since Kenya’s Macdonald Mariga who turns out for InterMilan is expected to feature in the most coveted final. If Inter wins Mariga will become the first East African to ever win a EUFA champions league title. On Sunday Mariga ‘s Inter Milan bagged the second trophy this season after clinching the Serie A title the highest ever title won by a Kenyan soccer player.
All eyes will be glued to our sets as we witness a new historic moment for Kenyan soccer.Mariga's breakthrough and impressive perfomance serves as a ground breaker for many more talented Kenyan footballers who hope to pursue careers in Europe.
Back home, the African championships qualifier for home based players (CHAN) will be on this weekend with Kenya traveling to neighboring Uganda for a first round encounter to be played at the Namboole Stadium in Kampala. It should be remembered that Uganda cranes have not been beaten by Kenya in the recent past the latest being last year’s humiliation of Harambee stars during the CECAFA senior challenge cup played here in Nairobi. It was also embarrassing to note that during this match Uganda cranes had more fans in the stadium than the home team Harambee stars.
Twahir Muhiddin’s team has been performing dismally against the Cranes and this encounter should be used to mend the Stars’ tattered image against the Ugandans. It is however seen to be a difficult match owing to the fact that Harambee stars will be playing away and against a patriotic Ugandan fan base.
Also as a demerit to the home team is the level of preparation the team has received since they have stayed in camp for less than a month in preparation for this match.
In addition, the clash of major national fixtures I seen as poor planning. Having two major soccer events happening within the same period and involving same players who have to split their allegiance between club and nation is not fair to both parties. The Harambee stars match will coincide with the ongoing CECAFA championship in Kigali where Kenya soccer premier league champions Sofapaka fc are featuring .Sofapaka who will be playing their first game tomorrow afternoon against Uganda’s URA are seeking to shake off their poor performance in the local league by overcoming Uganda’s top brass. The match which was scheduled for Tuesday had to be brought closer when Heart land FC of Nigeria withdrew at the last minute forcing a fixture reshuffle.
Also slated for this weekend are the on going Safaricom Sakata ball competition Nairobi finals. The Sakata tournament has been held in all regions of Kenya and this weekends Nairobi finals are expected to be full of fireworks. The Safaricom under 23 Sakata competition seeks to identify talents from the grassroots and joins other corporates like Coca cola for being on the fore front to fill the youth football development gap which the government and Football governing body have failed to explore.
We wish all our teams the best of luck as they partake to represent our country.
