Kenyan under 20 lads to take on Sudan in CECAFA opener
The Kenyan under 20 soccer team will this evening take to the pitch in their first match at the CECAFA youth championship as they take on Sudan for the third time in a month. The team which is out to claim regional youth glory goes into the match with an upper hand having edged out Sudan twice during the African championship qualifiers with a 2-0 win in Khartoum and a slim 1-0 win in Nairobi two weeks ago to sail through to the final round.
The mood in the Kenyan camp is said to be of confidence with the boys’ in high morale ready to kick off their campaign in an eagerly anticipated match in Asmara.
“We shall not underrate anyone here and we are out to play the best football, stick to the game plan and hope we emerge victorious tomorrow since we are taking one game at a time” Said team captain Innocent Mutiso.
Sensational striker Paul Were is however likely to miss the match as he is said to have developed a hard head in camp and coach Ombiji is not in good terms with his character.
Kenya is one of the best prepared teams in this year’s championship having been in camp for more than a month now.
Kenya’s first opponents Sudan were surprisingly held to a barren draw by under dogs Somalia in a match which was largely expected to go Sudan’s way.
KENYA LINE UP
Caleb Otieno
Silas Shitote
Milton Milimo
Charles Odette
Musa Mohammed
Anthony Akumu
Abdul Malik Mohamed
Victor Majid
Jacob Keli
Edwin Mwaura
Innocent Mutiso
SUBSTITUTES
Musa Mohammed
Paul Were
Ali Hassan Mwijuma
Moses Arita
Joseph Kuthe
OTHER MATCHES
Uganda 3 Rwanda 1
Defending champions Uganda started their campaign to reclaim the trophy on a high with an emphatic 3-1 win against Rwanda. Uganda’s Dan Sserunkuma scored all the three goals for Uganda and is seemingly one of the most lethal force to watch out for in the championship.
Rwanda is under the tutelage of their new French coach Richard Tardy and largely fielded their under 17 side that is preparing for the African under 17 finals.
Zanzibar 2 Yemen 1
The visiting Yemen side started their tour of the region on a loosing note when they went down 2-1 to Zanzibar. Ali Badru opened the scores for Zanzibar in the 7th minute with Ali Othman adding the 2nd in the 24th minute to give the Island boys an advantage over the visitors.
Yemen however pulled one back in the 57th minute through Aiman Al-Hagri.Despite their dominance of the second half Yemen could not break through the fatigued Zanzibarians and the match ended 2-1.
Group “A”: Eritrea,Kenya,Tanzania,Sudan ,Somalia
Results
Eritrea 1 Tanzania 0
Somalia 0 Sudan 0
Group “B”:
Uganda ,Rwanda ,Yemen ,Zanzibar
Results
Uganda 3 Rwanda 1