NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 26 – Kariobangi Sharks head coach William Muluya says his charges are calm but excited ahead of their debut in continental football on Tuesday when they face Djibouti’s Arta Solar in the first leg of the CAF Confederations Cup preliminary round at the Kasarani Stadium.
Sharks playing in only their second season in top flight football handed themselves a ticket to the Confederations Cup after winning the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Cup title with a 3-2 conquest over Sofapaka.
“The atmosphere in training has been very good and the behavioral actions from the players is encouraging. They are willing to get into action and expecting a good outing on Tuesday. It is a good platform for them to show what they can do,” Muluya told Capital Sports.
He added; “There is no kind of panic and the best thing is that we are starting at home so that gives the players a bit of confidence to go in and do well.”
Sharks come into the match against a Djibouti side that finished eight out of 10 teams in their league and only picked a ticket to the competition after Ports who finished second in the league declined to participate.
Despite their small and unknown pedigree, Muluya is not underrating them and has vowed his players will give their best to get a win and progress to the first round.
“What I know about them is that most of them are in their national team and they are a team which likes to play possession football. We only know a few things about them but despite that we will not underrate them,” Muluya noted.
“We will try and concentrate on improving our own play and with that we can always have a good chance of winning. It is our first match of the new season and we would like to kick off with a win,” added the tactician.
Sharks will throw their young squad into the match and their squad hasn’t been helped much with key departures and injuries.
The side lost dependable defender Pascal Ogweno to Gor Mahia while left back Bolton Omwenga left for KCB, a move that threw the side off balance after they had already submitted his name to CAF.
“I would look at it as an opportunity for the other players to step up. I will not look at it as a problem but more for the opportunities it will present,” Muluya said.
He further explained; “Bolton’s departure was quite untimely, but you know you cannot hold on to a player who got a better offer and would like to better his life. We are victims of our own success because they (Bolton and Ogweno) left because of their good performance in the team,”
“I will believe in the players who have remained in the team and move forward.”
Further, defender Geoffrey Shiveka will miss with injury while goalkeeper John Oyemba and midfielder Sven Yidah have just returned to training after recovering from long term injuries.
It is Shiveka’s injury that has perhaps hurt Muluya the most, but he has called on his players to step up and cover for their injured assistant captain.
“When your leader is missing it is tough but again, it means everyone has to become a leader. It is a blow for us and now the responsibility is on the whole team. In the Shield final we missed out top scorer Kapaito (Eric) but the others stepped in to fill his void,” Muluya opined.
The club has also signed youngsters Peter Ogutu, Finley Osoro and Alvin Mang’eni all from High School while central defender John Otieno joins in from Nakuru All Stars.
