Libya coach says Cecafa tourney good preparation for CHAN 2018

NAIROBI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Libya football team coach Omar Elmaryamy is happy with the performance of his team in the Cecafa tournament in Kenya and hopes it will inspire his side to do well in the African Nations Championship, Chan 2018.

Morocco will host the Chan 2018 from Jan. 13 to Feb. 10. The North African country replaced Kenya, who had their rights to host withdrawn by Confederation of African Football (CAF) due to a lack of preparation.

The tournament is meant for locally-based players and is scheduled to take place in January and February 2018.

"It was a right decision to come to this competition. It will sharpen our team because we have done well in preparing the boys, especially by sampling all our players in the four matches. I told them (players) to be a little lenient because it would have been devastating to lose some players through injuries at this time, so there is more to offer when we go to Morocco," said Elmaryamy.

However, he said the competition will be tougher in Morocco compared to what they have had in Kenya.

"Of course the stage will be bigger and the competition will be harder. It will see us pulled to full capacity. But nothing is won easily in sport," he said.

Libya are in the same group with Uganda, who are the Cecafa champions, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea in the Africa Nations Championship challenge. Enditem