SWILA: Vihiga deserve plaudits, they present the best on our shores

SWILA: Vihiga deserve plaudits, they present the best on our shores

The inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League qualifiers, for the Cecafa region came to an impeccable end on Kenya’s soil, at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani on Thursday, a nerve-wracking afternoon for home girls Vihiga Queens who held their own to beat Ethiopia’s Commercial Bank 2-1 to not only bag the CECAFA Qualifiers trophy but also nail the one and only slot to the 2021 CAF Women’s Champions League Finals.

The Finals will be held in Cairo, Egypt in November this year.

Queens, by all standards, one of the powerhouses as far as women club football is concerned in this part of the world lived up to the expectations, losing just one group stage match, a 4-2 defeat, coincidentally to the same opposition, CBE, whom they beat in the final. This defeat, according to head coach Boniface Nyamunyamu, exposed their defensive frailties taking them back to the drawing board after which they recovered to stage a stormy run, going all the way to the semis, kicking out pre-tourney favourites Simba Queens of Tanzanian before going for the actual cherry – leaving the Ethiopian bank raided for a prized Sh3 million loot in the bag.

Vihiga Queens’ victory is not only a shot in the arm to the team, its technical bench, players and everyone associated with the club but the County Government of Vihiga too, the general citizenry and every football fan.

It is a moment of pride, and as a nation we need to bask in the glory of their conquest with the same velocity we celebrate the commanding victories of our athletes whenever they conquer foreign courses, setting new race records.

Vihiga Queens’ conquest is special in that despite being sponsored by the County Government of Vihiga, like many other teams, they’ve experienced numerous pitfalls, the financial challenges being the Archines heel that continue to dog the women’s game and sports at large and their victory should not be construed to mean that its smooth-sailing.

Not long ago, the team’s long-serving head coach Alex Alumira bowed out under unclear circumstances and the girls, together with new coach Nyamunyamu who took over the reins need to be hailed for being solid even in the face of adversity.

But to perhaps best understand what the CAF Women’s Champions League means we need to give it context.

Borrowing heavily from the concept of the Men’s CAF Champions League, the women competition will be the top-tier club football competition in Africa, with slots earned competitively every season, through respective Africa’s regions qualifiers, the league champions of respective countries battling it out.

However, this term, being the inaugural edition, Vihiga, a former women’s league champion nailed the slot despite finishing fourth in the league as by the time the names were being submitted to CAF(June 30), they were topping the standings. The same yardstick was used in picking Tusker to represent Kenya in the men’s competition.

However, as opposed to the men’s competition, which are played on group basis, home and away, the women’s edition has been categorised under regional clusters – West, North, East and South – representing various geographical areas of Africa hence Vihiga Queens emerging the best from the East region (Cecafa territory), bringing together teams in Eastern Africa.

In Cairo, at the CAF Women’s Champions League Finals, they will be joined by champions of the respective regions among them AS FAR of Morocco, AS Mande of Mali, Hasaacas of Ghana and giants Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.

Others are; Rivers Angels of Nigeria, Wadi Degla of Egypt and either Malabo Ladies or FCF Amani. The eight teams will be divided into two groups with the top two proceedings to the semis.

From the teams that qualified it is evident that the Cairo duty will be no light work. Thorough preparations are key.

Not to forget, the Queens have for ages used the substandard Kidundu stadium for their training. Using such a facility ahead of a major international assignment not only poses injury risks to the team which may complicate the matrix for coach Nyamunyamu.

I do hope the county government will take the team’s request in mind and address their plight. As they head into this competition they need maximum support to post good results. By qualifying for the Finals, they will not only be representing the county but the national flag too and the Ministry of Sports needs to move in swiftly to ensure the team is ably kitted and motivated.

Lastly, it’s my hope and prayer that the Sh3 million prize money will trickle down to the girls to enjoy the fruits of their hard work.

Their victory, as stated earlier, should be applauded by all and sundry. And while it is refreshing to see the political elite, led by ANC Leader Musalia Mudavadi hosting the team to a luncheon and extending a token of appreciation, the politicians should not wait for such moments of glory to milk political capital. They need to be part and parcel of the solution to the perennial challenges bedevilling our football and sports in general.

The team, for ages, struggled to stay afloat and many are the times they trained without proper kits whilst the individual players struggled to even raise bus fare to training. Mudavadi thus, with his political networks, need to mobilise the corporates of goodwill to come on board and partner with the team more so as they head to continental duty.

Competing in such a prestigious competition is not only a source of pride for the Vihiga County but the nation at large and corporates of goodwill need to jump at such an opportunity to be the team’s sponsors. This competition will be beamed live across counties, to millions of audiences thus helping such corporates reap maximum value in publicity.

Equally, the team has sent out a plea to the Government to help them secure a better training ground as they embark on fresh preparations. We do hope the national and county government will heed this plea.

Kudos girls. Through your determination, under head coach Boniface Nyamunyamu, you’ve shown the world that it can be done.

The tournament’s top scorer and Most Valuable Award winner Jentrix Shikangwa, at just 19, showed the world how good she is and more is yet to come. The future can only get better!

To coach Nyamunyamu, captain Enez Mango, striker Shikangwa, Phelistus Kadari, Joan Nabirye, Tereza Engesha, Maureene Achieng, Phoeby Owiti, Topister Situma, Vivian Nasaka, Myline Awuor, Lilian Awuor , Wilfred Seda , Faith Marende, Kebedi Robai, Janet Bundi, Mercyline Anyango, Alice Muderi, Bridgets Muhonja, Diana Tembesi , Norah Ann, Violet Wanyonyi wI say a big thank you. You are the heroines in this fight.

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Vihiga Queens Shikangwa CAF Women’s Champions League Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani

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