•Zico, who will be assisted by Godfrey Solo Oduor and goalkeeper trainer Charles Omondi Korea
•Russo added that they had made a deliberate decision to appoint local coaches at a time when many clubs are falling head over heels for foreign coaches.
Image: Erick Barasa
KCB have set an ambitious target of finishing in the top three when the 2019-2020 Kenyan Premier League season kicks off in ten days time.
Speaking during the official unveiling of the technical bench and new players, club’s president Paul Russo assured the team that they will spare no effort to ensure they achieve their objectives for the season.
“We have comfortably achieved our objectives in the last two seasons. First, getting promotion to Kenya Premier League and then finishing in the top ten. We are an ambitious club and we are very happy that Zedekiah Otieno joined us and we strongly believe he has the attributes that go hand in hand with where we want to be as a football club,” remarked Russo, who is also the KCB Group’s regional business director.
Russo added that they had made a deliberate decision to appoint local coaches at a time when many clubs are falling head over heels for foreign coaches. “We are a local club and that is why we believe in the ability of our local coaches. We also have a footprint in the region and therefore, we are determined to have that East African look in our team without sacrificing quality. This informs some of our signings,' he added.
Zico, who will be assisted by Godfrey Solo Oduor and goalkeeper trainer Charles Omondi Korea, reiterated Russo’s remarks, saying their target is to finish in the top three in a season, where many believe will be the most competitive particularly with his former club and current champions Gor Mahia under transition win in a six-team event.
“As a team, we have our own target which is to try and win the league. Everybody starts at the same spot but for us to win the league, we must have more points on board and that is what we are going to try and do when the season kicks off,” Zico stated.
The new signings are —Allan Owiny (goalkeeper); Pascal Ogweno, Moses Odhiambo (defenders); Dennis Odhiambo, Ian Motanda, Reagan Okwiri (midfielders); Enock Agwanda, Stephen Waruru and Stephen Ogada (forwards).
Elsewhere, Kenya Premier League side Western Stima head coach Salim Babu is happy with his new acquisitions who helped the team to emerge top in a three-day pre-season tournament hosted in Kakamega last weekend.
Stima won the pre-season show after amassing 13 points ahead of second-placed Homeboyz (12 points) and third-placed Kisumu Allstars. “Competing against Kakamega Homeboyz, Nzoia Sugar and Kisumu Allstars who are all top teams is not a child’s play. I was impressed with the performance of our new players,” said babu.
He said the event was not only a good experience and perfect preparations for the team before the league campaign kicks off in two weeks time. He singled out youngster striker Benson Ochieng of Kisumu Day who grabbed four goals, Lucas Waitera who was signed from Chemelil and Augustino Kuta who previously played for Nairobi Stima as some of the players who will steer the team to great heights.
“It’s all about teamwork and we want to kick off our campaign strongly. With this kind of preparations and support we have received from the management, we stand a good chance of achieving this,”’ Babu said.
He predicted stiff competition forthcoming league and singled out newcomers like Wazito as some of the teams to watch. Western Stima, who have also bolstered their technical bench by bringing back Hesborn Nyabinge as an assistant coach, will also have n attacking midfielder Ibrahim Ochieng from Manyatta and Fedel Oringa from Kariobangi Sharks.