Kwale County girls’ head coach Mukasa Amboko has predicted a vicious competition from their Group ‘A’ rivals at the ongoing Talanta Hela Under-19 national football tournament.
The gaffer spoke after his charges snatched a last-gasp equaliser to wring out a crucial point against Nandi County in their Group 'A' opening encounter at Kasarani Annex on Monday.
Litron Kimuli unleashed a thunderbolt to fire Nandi ahead in the 89th minute of the viciously contested encounter before Chirindo Rehema leveled the terms with a splendid effort just a couple of minutes later.
“I want to say that I’m very proud of my girls and I’m impressed with their performance. We started a bit cautiously; we were not playing well in the first 20 minutes but we managed to settle and play well,” Amboko said.
“It’s only that we are disappointed it’s a draw. I believe this is a game we should have won comfortably if we had converted the five chances that we missed,” he added.
Their next match is against Kakamega County who crashed 4-0 to Busia at Nyayo Stadium on Sunday. However, Amboko has warned his team not to underrate their opponents despite their torrid start.
He reckons that it will be hard to bill any team as the front runners considering the cutthroat nature of the competition.
“I would say that this is a group of death and every team is good. Despite that Kakamega lost yesterday, they also have quality and I’m aware of that. Even Busia are good judging by how they played yesterday. They are very experienced.
“The teams that qualified directly like us are disadvantaged because we last played in August and this is the first time we have been involved in a match since then.”
Amboko said that the teams that qualified directly from the regional championships could be disadvantaged after a lengthy spell of inactivity.
“The teams that were involved in the playoffs have much better match fitness, they have played more matches together. I’ll not be surprised that the teams that qualified directly might not perform well,” Amboko remarked.
“I’d like to believe that my girls are equal to the task and so the group is still wide open,” he added.
His opposite number Desource Mudaida rued the outcomes, saying they squandered a glorious opportunity to seal maximum points.
“The girls have tried very well but any match always has three outcomes, a win, a loss, and a draw. Today, we managed to get one point which is a positive result,” Mudaida said.
However, the gaffer said they would step on the gas peddle in their subsequent encounters with eyes firmly trained on a decent finish in the inaugural tournament.
We are focusing on our next match against Busia. They have a good team they are very composed but we have a strategy to pick maximum points against them. We are focusing to be among the best four teams in the tournament,” Mudaida said.
