Abud hopeful Harambee Stars will be in Cameroon
What you need to know:
- Stars open their qualifying campaign against Sierra Leone on June 10.
- Stars are in Group F which also has the Black Stars of Ghana and Ethiopia.
- Omar has featured in 27 league matches for the side and is capped 26 caps times by Kenya.
Harambee Stars defender Abud Omar remains confident Kenya will qualify for the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019.
Qualifiers for the 16-team tourney which will be held in Cameroon from January 12 to February 3 in 2019, will get underway in June.
Stars start their quest for a return to the finals after a 13-year hiatus with an away fixture to Sierra Leone on June 10.
“My target is to help the team qualify for the Cup of Nations. We have a pool of quality players in the team and with better planning, we can manage to qualify but first we need to win in the upcoming clash,” Omar told Nation Sport from his base in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Stars are in Group F which also has the Black Stars of Ghana and Ethiopia.
MAIDEN GOAL
The former Bandari and Tusker defender on Monday night scored his maiden goal for Slavia Sofia in a 1-1 stalemate against Lokomotiv Gorna in the first round return leg of the relegation playoff Phase Two.
The goal comes 18 months after Omar joined the side from Greek second tier side Panegialios.
“I felt good scoring my first goal since joining Sofia. Even though we had won (3-0) in the first leg, we needed to get a result to proceed to the next playoffs,” said the 24-year-old, who was named the man of the match in the fixture held at Vasil Levski Stadium.
Sofia now proceed to another two-legged second round playoffs with a clash against Neftohimic. The first leg is scheduled for Friday and the reverse tie two days later where the aggregate winner retains their slot in the top flight while the loser plays a third placed team in the second tier for a promotion ticket.
Omar has featured in 27 league matches for the side and is capped 26 caps times by Kenya.
