Beach football national team gear up for Ghana

Said Mohammed (left) of Kenya's Harambee Sand Stars battles for the ball with Ssemakula Hamim (right) of Uganda during an International Beach Soccer friendly match at the Jomo Kenyatta Public beach on Sunday, January 02, 2015. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

National Harambee Sand Stars players continued to gel as they stepped up training in readiness for next weekend's Africa Cup beach football qualifier against Ghana's Black Sharks.

The Kenyans are in Mombasa under the tutelage of CAF-certified instructor Rajab Babu.

"I am with the training and we are optimistic of beating Ghana in both legs," Babu said.

He said the two-week training would give him ample time to prepare the boys for the Saturday's match. The return leg will be played at the Laboma Beach Soccer Arena in September.

"We have been training at Pirates Beach, the venueof the match and the players have mastered the pitch well," he said.

"We started our training with conditioning and we will move to tactical training from Monday," added Babu.

He said he has a lot of respect for Ghana which is ranked seventh in beach football in Africa has an active beach football league.

The winner of the two-legged qualifier goes for the Africa Cup Beach tournament to be held in Nigeria in December.

The African Cup winners earn the ticket to represent the continent at the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Bahamas.