Coach Senge calls for friendlies ahead of Cup ties
Kenya international Maxwell Fuchaaka trains at the City Park Stadium on September 4, 2017. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |
What you need to know:
- National men’s hockey team coach Meshack Senge has called for high profile friendlies to aid the team’s preparations for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations in Ismailia, Egypt.
- Senge believes playing local sides alone will not help his team gauge its preparedness for the continental showpiece whose winner will qualify for 2018 World Cup.
- “We need to play matches that will greatly measure the team and give us the necessary test and preparations we need for the continental event,” Senge told Nation Sport on Monday at the team’s training camp at City Park Stadium in Nairobi.
National men’s hockey team coach Meshack Senge has called for high profile friendlies to aid the team’s preparations for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations in Ismailia, Egypt.
Senge believes playing local sides alone will not help his team gauge its preparedness for the continental showpiece whose winner will qualify for 2018 World Cup.
“We need to play matches that will greatly measure the team and give us the necessary test and preparations we need for the continental event,” Senge told Nation Sport on Monday at the team’s training camp at City Park Stadium in Nairobi.
“We understand that funds are an issue but we need to be in top shape when we come up against South Africa and Egypt next month,” he added. Champions South Africa and Egypt, who will also take part in the competition, have already named their final squads for the biennial tournament.
The provisional squad of 35 players resumed training on Monday ahead of the October 19- 29 tourney which will also feature women’s teams.
TRAINING SESSION
Monday’s session was attended by 25 players and Senge was largely impressed with the turnout with notable absentee of a few players due to job commitments.
Last season’s Most Valuable player Paul Omariba of Strathmore University Gladiators is one of the seven new players in the team that will eventually be whittled down to a final 18.
“It feels good to be called up to the national team and I am doing my best to ensure I make it to the final team and get to play against the best teams in the continent,” Omariba, who helped Strathmore win the league title last year, said.
Kenya will come up against defending champions South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Botswana, and Zambia alongside the hosts. The country has yet to win the competition, finishing second four times and third another three times.
The men’s team has played at two World Cups – 1971 and 1973 while the women’s team has yet to feature at the global showpiece. Both teams won bronze at the last edition held in South Africa in 2015.
Senge, who was in-charge of the team, is ready to avenge his side’s narrow 2-1 loss to South Africa in the semi-finals of the 2015 edition.
