Amavubi, Cranes, Stars seek Nations Cup progression

Saturday Botswana vs Guinea Bissau 15.30 Uganda vs Mauritania 16.00 Sierra Leone vs Seychelles 16.30 Sunday Congo vs Rwanda 15.30 Lesotho vs Kenya 15.00 Benin vs Malawi 16.00 Tanzania vs Mozambique 16.00 After the spectacle of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the race to the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015 continues this weekend as 14 nations face-off in the first of two legged matches which will deliver the final seven teams into the final group phase of qualification. The East African quartet of Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya lead the charge into the weekend action seeking to end a combined distressing 90 years of non-qualification to the biggest continental soccer fest. Amavubi last qualified for Nations’ cup final in 2004 in Tunis. Ever since then, they have struggled to make any impression as worst performances have hit the Amavubi in their campaign to emulate the 2004 Amavubi class. However, with Briton Stephen Constantine in charge of the national team, they are high hopes of qualifying for Morocco 2015. The Wasps, who shocked CHAN 2014 Winner Libya in the last round, are away in Pointe Noire against Congo on Sunday. The winner joins Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan in Group A. Neighbours, Cranes’ last qualified in 1978, the Taifa Stars last appeared at the Afcon finals in 1980 while Kenya’s last showing was in 2004. Uganda have had a change of second round opposition following the disqualification of Equatorial Guinea who were banned from the 2015 edition for fielding ineligible Cameroon-born Thierry Fidjeu in their 3-1 aggregate win over Mauritania. Mauritania were restored and took Equatorial Guinea’s place but Uganda coach Milutin Sredojevic goes into the clash at the Nelson Mandela stadium in Nambole not too pleased with his side’s unimpressive run of games in preparations, a narrow 1-0 win over Seychelles who travel to Sierra Leone and a 0-0 against the Flames of Malawi who have a tough date against the Squirrels in Cotonou. Tanzania will be playing Mozambique for the fifth time in Afcon qualifiers, in which the former has never eliminated the latter, managing only one victory, lost twice and drawn once. Taifa Stars skipper Nadir Haroub expressed optimistic that Tanzania was equal to the task and was hopeful of overcoming the Mambas. “I know Mozambique is a good team and we have a lot of respect for them, but everyone in the team understands the importance of winning the game; there is a team spirit and no doubt we’ll win,” Haroub said adding: “We have a strong team that can beat Mozambique. We will fight hard for victory as we want to reach the next stage of the tournament, hopeful we’ll do so and bring joy to Tanzanians.” Kenya’s Harambee Stars will not have first choice goalkeeper Arnold Origi will miss the encounter in Maseru. Arnold Origi, son of Kenyan legend Austin Makamu Oduor and a cousin of Belgian Divock Origi who played for Belgium in Brazil, also missed the first leg of the first preliminary round which Kenya won 1-0 to set up the fixture against Lesotho. Across the continent, in West Africa, the Squirrels and Flames who both last appeared at the Nations Cup in Angola in 2010 square off in Cotonou. Squirrels trainer Didier Ollé-Nicolle of Benin and Malawi’s Young Chimodzi are eager to get into the next round of qualifying and attempt a return at Morocco 2015. A testing fixture awaits the two sides in Cotonou at the Stade de l’Amitie. Botswana and Guinea Bissau clash in a second round, first leg qualifier on Saturday in the final stretch to join the big guns in September’s group phase. The battle of these two African football flyweights at the National Stadium in Gaborone will be the first ever between the two teams. For Botswana, they are battling to qualify for their second African Nations Cup finals since making their tournament debut at the 2012 tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea Bissau on the other hand hopes to follow cousins Cape Verde’s example and qualify on the long road to Casablanca. And Botswana coach Peter Butler has already discovered that nothing is as easy as it may seem in the lower echelons of African football in his brief reign as Zebras coach following a decade coaching in Asia. Butler’s first taste of Africa Cup qualifying action saw his side earn a 1-0 aggregate win over Burundi whom they beat by the same score line in Gaborone to advance. “Guinea have a lot of international players who have a lot of exposure, it will be a tougher game, we know that,” Butler said. “I hope the public will come and give us the support we deserve.” But Butler’s home leg plans have been hit by club versus country battle between Botswana and South African Premier Soccer League club Bloemfontein Celtic over the release of captain Joel Mogorosi and Mogogi Gabonamong. Celtic was by the eve of the match still refusing to release the duo for international duty. Meanwhile, Guinea Bissau will be looking to continue on their inspired run in the 2015 qualifiers after booking their date with Botswana with a big win over Central African Republic. Guinea Bissau secured their second round place with a 3-1 home win over Central Africa Republic in Bissau to advance to the second round by the same score line thanks to brace by their Portuguese-born striker Cicero. The second legs of the ties will be played on the weekend of August 1-3. The seven winners advance to the group phase of the qualifiers. Morocco hosts the Nations Cup finals tournament from January 17 to February 8 next year.