General Secretary of the Kebbi Beach Soccer Association and Team Manager of Kebbi Beach Soccer club, known as Kebbi Fishers, Mallam Abdullahi Yahyah, in this interview says the team is ready to slug it ou and reach the semi final t at the world winners’ cup at Alghero, Italy.
Your team is going to the Beach Soccer World cup in Alghero, Italy and your team is group C along other three teams. How prepare is your team for this tournament?
The team has been in the camp for the past three weeks and the preparations have been on the top gear. We have been working hard to ensure that our team is on the good shape ahead of the world winners’ cup. We have the chances of deliver at the world winners’ cup. This a international tournament where many clubs across the world will come together and participate in the tournament. So, you can imagine the tempo at the arena. We are busy preparing our team to compete and fit with the standard very well.
How free are your players from injuries?
We take the issue of health of our players very seriously. So, we have a dedicated medical staffs and they have been doing a good job to ensure that the players are in good shape and free of injuries. They taking care of the players regarding their nutrition and I believed that all the players are all in good shape, healthy and ready to slug it out with any team in the world. They are injuries free for now.
Your team will be slug it out with the other clubs from Germany, Denmark and Saudi Arabia in the group C. what is the chances of the team to qualify from the group.
The chances are very high because this is not the first time; second time the team is participating at the world winner’s cup. Our team participated in the maiden edition of the tournament in Turkey in 2019, also participated in the 2023 edition of the tournament. So, basically, we are well experienced team unlike the first time when we participated. We have a very good chance of qualifying from the group to the next stage.
Last time your time participated in the tournament, you qualified to the last 16 before your team crashed out. So, what is the team target this time around?
Our target is to reach the semi-final. We were able to qualified to the second round last time; definitely we are determined to go beyond that level. The target we set for the team is semi-final and we hope and pray that God will help us through?
Is there any challenge faced by the team ahead of this tournament?
Challenges are always there, you cannot do away with challenges but we always find a way out around these challenges. Basically, the major challenge now is the issue of visa. We have been going to the Italy Embassy for the couple of weeks, yet, we have not been given appointment so that we can submit our visa application for us to give out the necessary documents. Till now, we have not been given date to submit our visa application. But, we would not give up, we shall continue to struggle until we achieve our aims and actualize our dream.
What are your messages to all your sponsors?
We cannot thank all of them because, they are playing vital role in our successful stories. All these milestone, successes of the team, we cannot attained it without them financially, materially and morally. The partnership will continue for the glory of Nigeria, and entire Africa continent. I want to thank Wacot Rice mill for always supporting us always and the Kebbi state government for creating an enabling environment for us, the youth to display their skills and talent. We remained grateful.
