NATIONAL Under-17 football team, Serengeti Boys, Head Coach Oscar Mirambo has said key striker Kevin John is out of danger.
The gifted striker picked an injury during an international friendly match against Cameroon on Monday. Serengeti Boys went ahead to beat Cameroon’s Baby Lions 2-1 in the second game of the Invitational tournament at the Nyamirambo Stadium, Kigali.
“I am happy that Kevin (John) is not badly injured. We have got lots of positives from the game and we want the boys to improve in the few days remaining ahead of the Africa Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Dar es Salaam,” added Mirambo.
Against the physical Cameroon team, skipper Morice Abraham and Arafat Swakali netted for the Serengeti Boys, while Yannick Noah was on the score sheet for Cameroon.
Mirambo said that playing games is better practice instead of simply training because then you don’t check yourself in match situations. The Serengeti Boys will face Rwanda’s U-17 team on April 4th in the last game of the Invitational tournament.
Both Serengeti Boys and Cameroon are using the Invitational tournament to prepare for the U-17 AFCON slated for April 14 -28th in Dar es Salaam.
Immediately after the Rwanda tournament, Serengeti Boys will leave Kigali for Dar es Salaam for their final tune up ahead of the AFCON U-17 finals.
Serengeti Boys will kick off its campaign by welcoming Nigeria at the National Stadium, while Cameroon will battle it with Guinea at the Azam Complex on the following day.
The best two teams at the CAF U-17 AFCON that qualify for the semifinals will directly book a place in the U-17 World Cup to take place in Brazil. Serengeti Boys recently participated at the UEFA ASSIST U-17 International tournament in Antalya, Turkey.
T h e event features teams from three continents – Angola, Cameroon, Guinea, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda from the Confederation of African Football (CAF); Australia, which belongs to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC); and Belarus, Montenegro and Turkey, representing UEFA.
UEFA ASSIST thus provides support for member associations and confederations in four specific areas – education and knowledgesharing, development of youth football, supporting infrastructure projects and assisting UEFA’s member associations.
Serengeti Boys squad in Kigali has– Shaban Hassan, Mwinyi Abdallah, Zubery Foba, Ally Hamis, Pascal Gaudence, Ben Anthony, Mohamed Omary, Dominic Pauline, Mustapha Rashid, Morice Michael, Agiri Aristide and Edson Jeremia.
Others are Tepsi Evance, Charles Herman, Kelvin Pius, Edmund Godfrey, Salum Ally, Arafat Hussein, Misungwi Boniface, Ladaki Juma, Jefferson Mwaikambo, Benard Castory and Omary Jumanne.
