NAIROBI, Kenya, February 23 – Tusker coach Sammy Omollo wants his team to display maturity when they open there Kenya Premier League (KPL) campaign against AFC Leopards on Sunday.
Omollo told Capital Sport on Wednesday that a positive attitude will help his team start the season on a sound footing against a team that thrives on its fanatical support.
“The team has been working on its confidence and its mental strength which is what we need alongside things like defending which we have been working on and attack but mental strength is very important at this stage,” said Omollo.
“We’re facing a team with massive following so it’s a question about how we are going to deal with it. So mental strength is very important,” he added.
The Brewers face a side that his faced turmoil off the pitch due to a series of botched elections but Omollo doesn’t believe that will affect Leopards when they lock horns at Nyayo National Stadium.
“Their new sponsors (Mumias) want the players to be comfortable. And once the players are comfortable that negativity won’t affect them. So I believe they are ging to come hard at us,” said Omollo.
Tusker have boosted their squad this season with the arrival of Duncan Ochieng from Mathare and Abbas Akinyemi from Sofapaka providing more tools in the box.
“The new players have really gelled well. These are players who have played at the highest level which makes it easy for them to adapt to a new system so I’m happy about that,” said the former Rangers coach.
After the ‘Ingwe’ game, the gold shirts will face Congo United, Mathare United and Chemeli Sugar on successive weekends.
“Whenever you play this league, if you start on a positive note, you stand a chance of doing well. But we’re taking every game seriously. After AFC, we travel to Mombasa to play Congo which gives us a very good platform to start this league very well,” said Omollo.
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