Head coach of the Harambee Starlets of Kenya, David Ouma believes his country is gradually catching up with the power houses of African football.
The Harambee Starlets eliminated Ghana’s Black Queens from the third round of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Qualifier on Tuesday.
According to Ouma, Kenya are on the right track in catching up with the big guns in African football.
He praised his players for that big fate achieved in eliminating Ghana from the qualifiers.
“Scouting department has done the best job in recruiting these players and it means Kenya are closing the gap between them and nations like South Africa and Nigeria and this is all about development and support from the government and Football Kenya Federation (FKF)”
“The players did well especially after the 0-0 draw in Ghana and what was the most important thing about this game was to prevent them from scoring because if we had conceded we would have been in a big problem.
“They kept a good defensive organisation and the fact they pushed until the extra time to score means the mental attribute is developing.”
He also congratulated the fans for the support given to the team
“The fans have to rally behind the team and push the players because this is what we have to do. Look at athletics (the 2019 Iaaf World Athletics Championships in Doha) where Kenya emerged as the second-best nation worldwide. Being a footballing nation, we can also achieve the best in this game,” he concluded.
Kenya will play Zambia in the fourth round of the qualifiers.
The Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, Japan in January of 2020.