U-17 African championship Today’s Fixtures Kenya v Rwanda (2-2) Seychelles v Reunion (0-4) Mozambique v Malawi (0-4) Namibia v Lesotho (5-0) Niger v Somalia (3-0) Guinea v Mauritania (1-0) The U-17 national football side will be seeking to book a place in the first round of the African U-17 qualifiers when the preliminary round second leg against Kenya gets underway this afternoon at Nyayo stadium, Nairobi. The game between Michael Weiss’s youngsters and their Kenyan counterparts is balanced poised after the first leg in Kigali two weeks ago ended in a 2-2 draw. A scoreless draw favours the Kenyans who scored two vital away goals in the first leg. However, Weiss says he will leave no stone unturned as he bid to guide his young troops to the first round proper even though the odds are mathematically against him and his team. My boys are capable of scoring the needed goals to enable us get to the next round of the African championship, the Germany coach said before the team’s departure to Nairobi on Thursday. The Kenyans will go into the game believing that the two goals they scored in the first leg put them in a good position to end the job in their own backyard. The junior Harembee Stars are hoping to break the jinx of having never qualified for the African Championships and are bent on beating the Rwandans to realize that dream. As a first step towards that, Coach George Njoroge has recalled three players into his squad for the crucial tie against Rwandan side. The trio Tom Wongo, Daniel Kongo and Edward Seda missed out on the trip to Kigali for the first leg due to injuries, but an improvement in their recovery has necessitated for their inclusion. The match will be handled by referees from while the match commissioner is from Malawi. In other matches Seychelles face an uphill task as they host Reunion at home. The Islanders must overturn a four goal deficit from the first leg to have any realistic chance of making it to the first round. In Maputo, Malawi will play as guests of Mozambique while Namibia is favored to advance past Lesotho. The Warriors have a five goal advantage from the first leg. Niger will host Somalia while Guinea Bissau battles Mauritania. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone and DR Congo have booked their places in the first round following the withdrawal of Liberia and Tanzania respectively. Twenty teams including holders Nigeria have drawn a bye into the first round. They are Tunisia, Ghana , South Africa , Gabon , Burkina Faso , Eritrea , Mali , Côte d’Ivoire , Zimbabwe , Senegal , Zambia , Sudan , Angola , Cameroon , Gambia , Guinea , Benin , Botswana and Libya . Ends
