(Roundup)Kenya league champions eye continental glory

Newly crowned Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Tusker FC have set their sights on becoming a continental force after reclaiming the domestic crown on Sunday.

Tusker improved to 58 points to open an unassailable four point lead at the summit of the KPL when they beat arch-rivals AFC Leopards 1-0 to end the three-year reign of Gor Mahia as Kenyan top flight club champions.

The Brewers sealed a domestic double after winning the GOtv Shield last month to qualify for the 2017 CAF Champions League, continental top flight club competition, with Ulinzi Stars, which lost to Tusker to play in the second tier 2017 CAF Confederations Cup.

Victorious Tusker players, who last celebrated the title in 2012, lauded Ugandan coach Paul Nkata for masterminding the triumphant season where they have completed the double for the first time in their 47-year history.

"He has been able to bring another level of togetherness in the team that was not there before. Besides training, we have been talking to keep our focus and maintaining discipline and hard work which God has finally crowned with the title," captain James Situma said.

Situma, who sat out the game due to injury, celebrated his second KPL title after winning it in 2009 with Sofapaka and he hailed the additions brought mid season by Nkata for fortifying their position under the stern challenge posed by Gor in the second half of the season.

"The players we acquired in June have been great. Hashim Sempala, Allan Wanga and Robert Omunuk came to fix gaps that we had in their departments.

"Sempala marshalled the midfield, while Omunuk's performance in defence speaks for itself. Wanga was exceptional, you could be sure his presence in the attack meant something," he added.

Kenya international Wanga continued his remarkable record of winning the league title with every club he has played for and was also effusive in praise of his teammates having won his first KPL crown with Tusker in 2007.

"I can only thank God for this. It's true every club I have played for wins titles since I started professional football. I'm happy to be part of this team and for the part I have played since I joined.

"It was a short time but I was able to fit in fast," offered the striker, who has won national leagues in Angola, Sudan, Azerbaijan and Tanzania added.

Following their domestic success, parent sponsors Kenya Breweries Limited rallied Tusker to make a mark on the continental scene.

"We put up incentives to make sure the side remained motivated through the season. I am happy to see that those measures have bore fruit. As part of the KBL family, Tusker FC remains core to our company's principle of supporting and building our youth through sports," KBL Managing Director, Jane Karuku, said in a statement.

Nkata, who joined the Brewers before the start of the season, led fellow KPL club Muhoroni Youth FC to record their highest ever finish of fourth in 2015.

"I came to this game knowing that we have to win nothing else because in case of a draw you never know anything can happen in the last game, intimidation.

"When you pledge something you have to fulfill it and I have done my job," Nkata said moments after the final whistle confirmed them as 2016 title winners in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru.

"I cannot say anything about the coming season, for now it all we have to do is celebrate," said the Ugandan tactician, who was carried aloft by his jubilant players after the tense encounter.

Fittingly, it was his compatriot Shaffique Batambuze who made the difference against Leopards in the 68th minute when he produced an emphatic finish from a corner fired in by field captain, Humphrey Mieno.

"I have done it for my team, I feel good and I appreciate Tusker since I have never done this before. I appreciate everyone, we have done it," the ecstatic match winner Batambuze offered.

Tusker clinched their 11th domestic crown in their history, four behind Gor whom they play next weekend in the final match of the season. Endit