Caf Champions League: 'Tusker wanted to score five vs Arta Solar 7' - Matano

Tusker head coach Robert Matano has boldly stated his team was targeting five goals against Arta Solar 7 in the second leg of the preliminary round clash in the Caf Champions League.

On Saturday, at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi, the Football Kenya Federation Premier League champions defeated their Djibouti counterparts 3-0 to win 4-1 on aggregate and set a date with Zamalek in the next phase.

The Brewers scored their goals through debutant Shami Kibwana, Ibrahim Joshua, and Deogratius Ojok.

'We wanted five goals'

"We were aiming at scoring even five goals, we had chances to do so, but we did not manage. We are happy to have won the match, the players have played well considering the number of injuries we had," Matano told Goal.

"Solar Arta are not a bad team, we managed to control their tempo and got our chances as we wanted and eventually won the game. 

"The difference between this and the initial game is that we had many players and did five substitutions, everybody playing in his position. Last time we did not have this opportunity. 

"Football is mostly won by the players on the bench, our bench, last time, was weak. We had a few players.

"Last time we also trained in groups; others in Djibouti, and others training in Nairobi. Others were in Djibouti training and the rest in Qatar; for three days we did not train together.

"Playing against a team that had trained in Qatar for a month was not easy."

What next for Tusker?

Matano and his charges will now focus on their game against Gor Mahia next weekend in the FKF Premier League Super Cup.

This is the Kenyan season's curtain-raiser between the league champions and the FKF Shield Cup winners.

Gor Mahia qualified after defeating rivals AFC Leopards in the final last season. As a result, they were rewarded Ksh. 2 million in prize money and a chance to represent the country in the Caf Confederation Cup assignment in the 2021/22 campaign.