Nairobi United Technical Director Vows Squad Beef-Up in January Following Slow CAF Confederation Cup start

Nairobi United have lost both their opening CAF Confederation Cup group stage games, which Ali has attributed to a lack of experience at the highest level.

Nairobi United technical director Salim Ali has revealed a strong need to boost the side’s experience levels in the upcoming January transfer window following their slow start to the 2025/2026 CAF Confederation Cup group stage campaign.

United huffed and puffed against Maniema Union in their second clash of the campaign at Kasarani Stadium, but were made to pay for failing to convert their chances as Maniema emerged 1-0 winners on Sunday afternoon.

Capitalising on their second-half dominance, Maniema exploited space on the flank where the ball was worked into the area. The substitute, Jeancy Mboma, curled a precise effort past goalkeeper Kevin Oduor, punishing the hosts for their earlier profligacy.

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In their opening clash, they were simply outclassed against Wydad, losing 3-0 in Rabat, Morocco a week ago.

Inexperience Cost us- Ali

Speaking to the media after the clash, Ali, who has been standing in for head coach Nicholas Muyoti given the former Nairobi City Stars coach’s lack of a CAF A license, blamed the side’s start to a proper lack of experience at the highest level.

“You can make up as you go along during the preliminaries but at the group stages, you go up against quality. We have quality, but most of them are young,” Ali said.

Nairobi United, who were playing in the FKF Division 1 as recently as 2023, possess a core of players who lack sufficient experience in the Kenyan top flight, let alone the CAF Confederation Cup.

He gave an example of Kepha Aswani, a player who was playing for South C Rangers in the FKF Division 2 last season, but lacked sufficient experience at the highest level.

“Aswani  has not even played in Division 1, NSL or the Premier League, but played in CAF today. We signed him after he impressed us at the Sakaja tournament last season.

It is an opportunity for them, but experience is key. “There are positions we need to stack up.  We have a plan. There are places we want to increase the quality, and I am sure it will help us moving forward.”

We Should Have Killed this Game in the First Half

Meanwhile, Ali has expressed regret over the side’s failure to take advantage of their early momentum in the first half against the DR Congo side, who have now collected six points from their first two games.“We conceded a goal early and it disrupted our momentum. Today, we should have been done with this game in the first half. We created a lot of chances. 

“You do not need several chances, you only need a few and we did not. Those are our two takeaways from both our games so far.”

Nairobi United will now refocus their attention to their domestic campaign in what is their maiden FKF Premier League season in efforts to keep defying the odds in the competition, which they also are incidentally debuting in, having won promotion  to the top flight of Kenyan football last season.