By Samuel Ouma
In June, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) announced the cancellation of this year’s Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) and approved the formation Africa Women’s Champions League.
The decision was reached during the virtual Caf Executive Committee meeting held on June 30.
Now it is more than a month since the decision was made but Harambee Starlets Coach David Ouma has not moved on. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, August 4, Ouma slammed the decision terming it a ‘bad option’.
Ouma felt that Caf should have rescheduled the tourney noting that a number of teams had already prepared physically and psychologically.
“I was preparing my team by all means. We were fresh from taking part in the Turkish Women’s Cup where we managed to finish third and we were ready to face Tanzanian Twiga Stars in April then later meet Dr Congo or Sao Tome and Principe in the last round of the qualifying stage before Corona virus broke out,” Ouma said.
He argued that the continental body should have borrowed a leave from other sports like athletics which postponed their events to a later date. For instance, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) postponed 2020 Olympic Games to 2021. The much anticipated event was to kick off on July 24 and end On August 9 but failed to take place due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The coach added that the abolition of the biennial showpiece will deny women footballers to showcase their talents and market their skills worldwide.
The 2020 AWCON was to be staged in November in DRC.