By Lexi Elo with Agency Report
Tanzania mainland reigning champions Azam have shortlisted Stephen Keshi to the list of coaches they are holding talks with to take over from Joseph Omog who was sacked by the club on Monday.
Cameroonian Omog lost his job a day after Azam were eliminated from the CAF Champions league, together with assistant coach Ibrahim Shikanda on grounds that their methods were not helping the team progress.
Azam lost 2-3 to Sudanese team El-Merreikh over two legs, after losing 3-0 in Khartoum after they had won the first leg by 2-0 in Dar es Salaam. Azam’s General Secretary, Idrissa Nassoro, told Goal that they are currently in talks with several coaches, including Keshi and the biggest criteria they are looking at is the quality of the candidate’s CV and success they have had in their previous jobs.
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“We continue to have talks with coaches from different parts of the world, but there is a greater chance of Nigerian Stephen Keshi taking over Joseph Omog’s place because negotiations between us and him are going well, and his background is something that has attracted us,” Nassoro told Goal.
Keshi became coach of the Nigerian senior national team in 2011. He led Nigeria to qualification for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which they went on to win, defeating Burkina Faso 1–0 in the final. Although he failed to help the Super Eagles qualify for this year’s edition of the competition.
The 53-year-old is presently embroiled in contract talks with the Nigeria Football Federation after missing out on taking the Burkina Faso job.
Azam FC, based in Dares Salaam, was founded in 2007 and gained promotion to the Tanzanian Premier League in 2008. The club played in the CAF Confederation Cup in 2013 and qualified to play in this year’s Champions League after pipping giants Young African by six points to win the TPL.
The club has players from Uganda, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire in its ranks.
