Esiye: CAF appearance a reward for years of toil

Kakamega Homeboyz FC anchorman Eston Esiye Omengo believes the upcoming continental contest between his side and Al Hilal Benghazi is a reward to him for all the years he’s been in the top flight. Homeboyz, domestic cup champions from last season, will face the Libyans on Saturday19th at the Nyayo National Stadium in the first preliminary round of the CAF Confederation Cup.

Esiye, a long-serving member of Homeboyz, says he has worked hard in all the teams he featured for in the premier league and the upcoming clash is a reward for all those years of sheer toil.

‘’I have prepared for a long time for this and so I consider it a reward, and honour to play in the continentals. Playing all those years in the KPL without this opportunity wouldn’t have bode well for me so I’m thankful for it,’’ says the midfielder who has turned out for Western Stima and West Kenya Sugar before settling at Homeboyz.

Esiye played in all the matches, bar one, in last season’s Mozzart Bet Cup competition- the very competition that brought his side to the CAF Confederation Cup. Missing only the quarter final against Kariobangi Sharks, he proved to be Coach Patrick Odhiambo’s main man in the middle and bagged four assists in the process.

He is only a little satisfied with his team’s pre-season preparations, taking issue with the limited time they had to do so.

‘’I’d say the team is very ready. The only problem is we had little time to prepare but even in that little time we played some very good build-up matches. We lost one and won two and we noted that we weren’t scoring enough but that has since been rectified in training. We have improved in that department heading into the match,’’ he continues.

End of an era as Blackberry leaves Gor Mahia

The dead ball specialist earned an assist-in his typical free-kick fashion- on Saturday when Homeboyz squared out with league champions Gor Mahia in the FKF Charity Shield. A wily researcher too, Esiye admits that he has done a little research on their Saturday opponents and knows a little of what to expect.

‘’I only watched one of their last games, they are very good technically and very fast at that. It will have to take a lot of caution to counter them when we meet. We do have the depth to do that because some of the signings brought in are very good.’’ he concludes.

Homeboyz, who traditionally play their league home matches at the Bukhungu stadium will have to travel to Nairobi to use the Nyayo National Stadium as their home venue against Al Hilal. Bukhungu is not CAF-ratified. The match will kicks off at 3PM.