The Kenya National Amputee Football Team has set sights on a semifinal place at the Africa Cup of Nations for amputee football that will kick off next week in Dar Salaam, Tanzania.The competition kicks off on November 25 and will go all the way to December 5 with up to 16 teams taking part in the competition.Kenya been pooled in Group B alongside world champions Angola, Cecafa champions Rwanda, and Zanzibar, perhaps one of the toughest groups in the competition.Despite being in a tough group, the team captain Dalmas Otieno is optimistic that the team can make it into the knockout stages of the tournament, specifically the semis which would see them move closer to making another appearance at the World Cup.”Our only worry is Angola, who are the world champions and boast top quality. Otherwise, a top-two finish will be enough for us to make it to the quarters. It is realistic considering the quality of the other sides in our group. Rwanda, despite being the regional champions, are not much of a strong team. They beat us in the Cecafa finals but that was a weaker Kenyan side than the one we have right now. Usually, the number of teams to qualify from each continent is determined by the number of teams that participate in amputee football. Africa has the most number of teams and so at least six places could be up for grabs. So, a semi-final finish would probably do it,” the skipper is quoted by The Star.The captain revealed that the team’s preparations have been hit with a couple of stumbling blocks and has not managed to go to a residential camp and will be missing a couple of foreign-based players who could not secure tickets to fly into the country for the preparation.”We have mostly been coming from our homes to train and it has not been easy. We were supposed to get into residential training on Thursday and had even booked a hotel in Nairobi West but were told in the evening that the camp would not be happening. We have some players who had joined us from Kakamega and Mombasa but are now stranded,” Otieno added.However, they received a shot in the arm earlier this week after former Harambee Stars captain Musa Otieno donated training kits and soccer boots to the team to aid in their preparations.The team is expected to jet out of the country on Tuesday next week in time for their first group match on Saturday and boasts of experienced players with some of them plying their trade in Europe.
