Emerging Stars head coach Stanley Okumbi has come out to explain the initial surprise exclusion of some good players in his provisional squad for the upcoming 2021 CECAFA Senior Championship set to be held in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia from July 3-18.Some of the players left out in the initial list included Gor Mahia’s duo of fast-rising defender Frank Odhiambo and Alpha Onyango, Wazito’s Fidel Origa who has featured in every league game this season, AFC Leopards’ fullback revelation Lewis Bandi, and Nairobi City Stars’ reborn fullback Kevin Okumu.AFC Leopards teenage sensation Bandi as well as Frank and Alpha have now been included in an additional list by Okumbi and are scheduled to join the rest in camp. Austine Ochieng, Wazito’s Musa Masika, and Bandari’s Keegan Ndemi have also been called up,Congratulations to our players Bernard Ochieng and Musa Masika who have earned call-ups to the Kenya U23 team, the Emerging Stars that’s currently preparing for the Cecafa U23 Championship. Ochieng is one of the four senior players summoned.#Wazito4life pic.twitter.com/RakDXcdFK7— WAZITO FOOTBALL CLUB (@wazitofc) June 23, 2021 Speaking to Mozzart Sport, Okumbi said that their exclusion would have been a hard blow to Emerging Stars but also noted that the initial omission was circumstantial, adding that he talked with their coaches on their availability.“I decided to meet and call all the coaches to discuss with them the availability of the players I had drafted initially. But because of the congestion of the fixture, some coaches explained to me that they did not have squad depth and I understood them. I met Gor Mahia’s coach Vaz Pinto and he told me that he has less players and releasing more would make his work very hard, and I got his point,” Okumbi explained.Okumbi also added that so far he has seen good sportsmanship from the top clubs in the league who have agreed to release their players to join in camp.Log leaders KCB have led by example together with Tusker FC and AFC Leopards and have all allowed their players to join the rest in camp, a gesture that Okumbi says is very encouraging.Bidii ya Keegan Ndemi imezaa matunda 💯, ametajwa katika kikosi cha Kenya cha wachezaji wasiozidi miaka 23 kinachojiandaa kwa ajili ya michuano ya CECAFA.Anajiunga na nyota wa @Harambee__Stars, Abdallah Hassan katika kikosi hicho.Kila la kheri Keegan 🙏🏾.#BandariNiYetu pic.twitter.com/05Iub7LN1V— Bandari Football Club (@BandariOfficial) June 23, 2021 When asked about the exclusion of these players at first, Okumbi said that there was no way he would have afforded to miss them in his team if they were all available.“It is true. Of the players that you have mentioned, I cannot afford to miss them on my team. They are all good players and have been good for their teams this season. I have had them at different levels and I know their quality. For Frank (Odhiambo), I gave him his debut last year during the CECAFA U20 in Tanzania. There was no way I was going to leave him out given his quality this season for Gor Mahia. Same with Bandi, I fielded him once when the U20 team played a friendly with Gor Mahia and he was impressive. I told him that he was going to be a regular player soon, and it has come to pass,” Okumbi said.
