CAFCL: Kenya Police FC to bank on experience against Mogadishu City Stars

Following their second round elimination in the CAF Confederation Cup last season, Kenyan Premier League champions Kenya Police FC have vowed to produce an improved display when they feature in the Champions League this campaign.

The law enforcers have been drawn to face Somalia Premier League champions Mogadishu City Stars in the two-legged of the first preliminary round. Having no venue to host matches, City Stars have pitched camp in Nairobi to play all the two fixtures at Nyayo Stadium.

The first round meeting is slated for Saturday with Police coach Etienne Ndayiragije beaming with confidence ahead of the first meeting between the two sides.

“While at CECAFA, we had the opportunity to watch them (Mogadishu) closely, they had a good campaign even though they didn’t win the trophy, just like us, so it is a team we understand very well,” Ndayiragije told Flashscore in an interview.

Police will not underrate City Stars

“We have a lot of respect for them, we saw what they can do, we can’t head into the first game underrating them, I have already cautioned my players against such belief.

“A lot about them I can’t talk about here now, we can only use it against them during the game, but the good part is that we have built ourselves to a good high level, and I am confident we will do well against them.”

He added: “It is true that last season we took part in the Confederation Cup, though the campaign was not good enough. This season we want to start strongly, we have good experience already in the squad, and what we want to achieve is a better position than we did in the previous campaign.”

On whether he has any injury concerns heading into the match, he said: “For now, we don’t have any injury problems, all the players are fit and available, so I believe we have everyone fit and ready to go and fight for a positive result in the first round test.

“Our policy here at Police is we don’t talk much, we do our talking on the pitch, so the fans should be calm and wait to see what we can achieve at the end of the season.”

Last season, Police represented Kenya in the Confederation Cup but their journey ended in the second preliminary round after losing to Zamalek of Egypt 3-1 on aggregate.