Kenya has limited chances to win Saturday match -Cranes Coach

By Swalley Kenyi

WITH newspapers, relatives and friends banned in the Cranes camp and the squads nearly fully in; match tickets nearly sold out, there is no room for excuses ahead of the national team’s Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Kenya on Saturday.

Only Nestroy Kizito is yet to arrive. Goalkeeper Abbey Dhaira and Brian Umony had their first training this morning.

And Coach Bobby Williamson has done all to keep the team focused to achieve a mile stone in his career and take Uganda back to Africa Nations Cup his after tens of his predecessors have failed since 1978.

As if to answer probing journalists at the team’s training camp, Williamson referred the scribes to recent Group J records to gauge his expectations in the do-or die match in the Cranes fortress –Namboole.

“I don’t want anyone to be over confident but look around African teams and our group in particular. Which one has won away from home? Only us! But we will not pay too much attention to our opponents (problems),” Williamson said.

Uganda is the only group J team that has won away after they beat Guinea Bissau 1-0 in March and will qualify for the African Nations Cup finals if they defeat or they draw with Kenya and Angola do not beat Guinea-Bissau.

Kenyan midfield kingpin Macdonald Mariga, who plies his trade in Spain at Real Sociedad has described the encounter as the “fiercest contest of all times.”

But Williamson argues that Kenya should expect little because they are not different from many African teams which have failed to win away from home.

He says it is because their players travel exhaustively long distances to return to their home countries and then take an extra trip to the country where they will play.  

The Harambee Stars are camped close to Uganda’s eastern boarder but they will first return to Nairobi then connect to Kampala on Friday before playing the following day.

On his way to the Harambee Stars camp in Mumias, Norway-based goalkeeper Arnold Origi had problems with flight connections from Amsterdam.

Kenya need to win the Uganda fixture and rely on Guinea Bissau to beat Angola to stand a chance of reaching the 2012 final to be co-hosted by Equatorial-Guinea and Gabon in January.