Nairobi United live the dream after qualifying for CAF Confed group stage, set to mint millions

Nairobi United head coach Salim Ali has hailed teamwork and bravery for their historic qualification to CAF Confederations Cup group stage at the expense of Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel.

The Naibois sliced the Tunisians 7-6 on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw and Ali says the experienced and youthful team was spot on to write their own history.

"I am happy for the boys and they have been able to achieve this with the combination of the experienced captains and the youthful side who most of them have never been on such a stage in their career.

He went on: “Ninety percent of these players are very young and this is a very new platform to them. But their bravery has been so huge.”

Ali also thanked the support from FKF and club Chairman, Nairobi county governor Johnson Sakaja stating that their input immensely propelled the team.

"The team's belief in themselves is and has been so paramount and a springboard which has helped propel then to qualify at the expense of the mighty teams like Etoile du Sahel.

I also want to thank FKF and Governor Sakaja (The Club Chairman) for their heavy support," Ali said while criticising the Tunisians for according them a hostile reception.

"We did not have the luxury of a good reception from the hosts but that could not deter us from finishing our assignment.

We talked to the boys and told them to have that belief in themselves, be bold enough to see to it that we get over the line and that's exactly what we did fortunately."

Etoile beat United 2-0 on Sunday but it was not enough after the latter handed them the same defeat in Nairobi forcing them into penalty shootouts.

United are now guaranteed a whopping Ksh.51 million by virtue of group stage qualification with lucrative packages awaiting should they progress beyond the groups.