Ugandan coach cautions Kili Stars on complacency

Kilimanjaro Stars players and officials on their way to board Entebbe-bound flight at Julius Nyerere International Airport yesterday. From left are Nizar Khalfan, coach Marcio Maximo and Danny Mrwanda.

One of the most prominent Ugandan football coaches, Frank Anyau has cautioned Kilimanjaro Stars against complacency, saying their group is tough.

Kilimanjaro Stars, buoyed by an impressive form, winning five matches back-to-back, are in the same group as hosts Uganda, Rwanda, Zanzibar and Somalia.

Anyau said the presence of Somalia and Zanzibar, who are the group’s underdogs, could complicate matters in the ground rounds.

“Both Somalia and Zanzibar are unpredictable while Uganda and Rwanda are highly formidable teams. Tanzania should not be complacent otherwise they might find themselves on the sidelines in early stages of this tourney,” said Anyau.

“The two teams (Zanzibar and Somalia) have die hard players, a fact your technical team should be aware of, the team should be all out to win their matches or else they are bound to get stuck,” added Anyau.

Stars will be chasing their third title and the first in 15 years. They lastly won the regional title in Nairobi in 1994.

In related development, Cecafa secretary general Nicolas Musonye said the case involving Yanga has been closed and it was not discussed during the body’s general assembly held on Tuesday in Kampala.

“The three-year ban on Yanga stays and Yanga should pay the fine as it was decided in Dar es Salaam after the classification match boycott,” said Musonye.

Yanga was punished for withdrawing from a Kagame Cup third-place play-off against rivals Simba.

Meanwhile, the Association of Uganda Sportswriters (USPA) has threatened to boycott the Senior Challenge Cup matches due to marginalised accreditation.

USPA’s secretary general Hussein Ahmed said the move was prompted by the Federation of Ugandan Football Associations (FUFA)’s decision to issue accreditations by discrimination.

The USPA leader says all reporters were expected to use membership cards of their association to access the stadium and not FUFA issued cards.

“FUFA has declined to issue accreditation to some of us on the grounds of being critical to soccer body’s leadership,”, said Ahmed.

“We are going to use our cards and not FUFA ones to access the stadium, otherwise we won’t cover the tourney,” noted Ahmed.

Some of the sports writers in Kampala have been leveling accusation to how FUFA leaders are messing up in running the soccer federation.

The move has been initiated barely a day ahead of host nation’s opening match against border rivals Rwanda. The teams play their match at Namboole’s Nelson Mandela stadium later this afternoon.