Wajir's Al-Hayatt stun Ifpro in North Eastern final
What you need to know:
- The team played to a 3-3 draw in regular time, forcing the match to be decided on penalties.
- Ifpro raced to a 3-0 half time lead with goals from Musa Rashid, Isaac Abdiwale and Feisal Tussut much to the delight of the sizeable crowd at the varsity grounds.
- The healthy led came despite Ifpro having their defender Derow Ahmed sent off for rough play.
- Al-Hayatt fought back brilliantly after the restart to level the scores via strikes from second half replacement Abdikadir Khalid and a brace from Ahmed Sabri forcing the shoot-out.
Home team Ifpro suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 post-match penalties loss to Wajir-based Al-Hayatt in the North Eastern final of the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom tournament on Sunday at Garissa University.
The team played to a 3-3 draw in regular time, forcing the match to be decided on penalties.
Ifpro raced to a 3-0 half time lead with goals from Musa Rashid, Isaac Abdiwale and Feisal Tussut much to the delight of the sizeable crowd at the varsity grounds.
The healthy led came despite Ifpro having their defender Derow Ahmed sent off for rough play.
Al-Hayatt fought back brilliantly after the restart to level the scores via strikes from second half replacement Abdikadir Khalid and a brace from Ahmed Sabri forcing the shoot-out.
“To come from three goals down and win this match wasn’t easy,” said Al-Hayatt captain Sabri Ahmed.
"To come from three goals down and win this match wasn’t easy. Ifpro were very strong and even after they were playing with one player less they still managed to frustrate us. That was because of the strategy that we had applied but the coach made changes immediately after the second half and that’s how we managed to come back into the game."
At the brief awards ceremony held after the finals, Sabri collected Sh60,000 for emerging the tournament's Most Valuable Player as well as top scorer courtesy of his four goals in the two games.
Ifpro custodian Bashir Abdirahi was named best goalkeeper and was therefore awarded the golden glove as well as a Sh30,000 award.
Al-Hayat, who went home with the Sh200,000 cash prize, will now join teams from Rift Valley (Kapenguria Heroes), Eastern (Mwingi Boys) and Nyanza (Ombek Red Devils) who have already qualified for the National Finals to be hosted in Nairobi on March 24.
The overall winner will pocket Sh1 million and earn a fully paid trip to London where they will meet and train with the Chapa Dimba Na Safaricom ambassador, Victor Wanyama at Tottenham Hotspur.
Ifpro beat Jack Boys from Dadaab 3-0 while Al-Hayatt defeated Jamia FC from Mandera 2-1 in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Coast Regional Safaricom Chapa Dimba finals involving four boys and four girls teams will be held this weekend at Bostal or Shanzu Teachers Training College ground. The eight teams will battle for two slots in the National Chapa Dimba finals scheduled to take place in Nairobi in March.
The boys teams are Shimanzi Boys (Mombasa), Breeze Ham (Kilifi), Iqra (Tana River) and Shimba Hills High (Kwale). The girls teams are Waa Girls (Kwale), St John’s Girls High (Kaloleni), Solwodidi (Malindi) and Kilifi Queens.
