Bartamaha (Naironbi):-Kenya’s CAF Youth Championships second leg tie against Somalia tomorrow hangs in the balance with the visitors refusing to play at the Oserian Stadium in Naivasha.
Football Kenya Limited (FKL) settled for Oserian Stadium after CAF dismissed their initial venue, Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.
“We don’t know where the Somali team is residing because they arrived on Wednesday night and were expected to travel to Nakuru, where we have booked them at the Flamingo Hotel, but they not reported there,” said FKL media liaison officer, John Kariuki told the Standard.
Somalia’s head of delegation Amir Hassan said they would not honour the match before they received an official communication from CAF giving the venue a clean bill of health.
“I read in the papers that the Kenyan team played under protest in Somalia and maybe they are trying to deliver payback. According to CAF, Afraha Stadium was banned from hosting international matches in 2003 and Oserian does not match international standards either, so we are not going to play at any of those venues.
“We have to receive official communication from CAF first,” Hassan said.
Hassan said Kenya were afraid of hosting the match in Nairobi because of the large number of Somalis living in the city who would turn up to support the team.
“The local federation is simply taking the match to Nakuru so that our fans cannot make it there to give Kenya an upper hand but we are not going to be frustrated.
“Why are they lying that Oserian played Tunisia’s Etoile Sahel at the stadium in 2001 when we all know that was not the case? Our stand is that we will not play at Oserian until we receive an official communication from CAF about the venue.”
Kenya’s team have already shifted their training base from Kasarani to Nakuru as they await the match.
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Source:-Gaol
