Kenya storm Cecafa U-20 quarters

Kenya's Junior Stars thrashed Ethiopia 4-0 in a match played at the Njeru Technical Center in Jinja on Thursday afternoon to qualify for the quarterfinal of the ongoing Cecafa U-20 Championship.

After endlessly knocking on the door, the Junior Stars finally broke the deadlock a minute to the break through Steve Otieno. Austine Odhiambo doubled the lead in the 68th minute before second half substitutes John Njuguna and Benson Omala finished the job with goals in the 75thand 84th minutes respectively.

Junior Stars coach Stanley Okumbi lauded the team saying; “We are happy that we have finished on a high in group stage. We respect every team in the tournament and we will be ready for the quarterfinal on Sunday.”

NYABINGE CONFIDENT

Assistant coach Hesborn Nyabinge exuded confidence heading into the quarterfinal.

“Everything has gone as we planned. We have a good team this time and we are confident it will go all the way to the final. The quality in the team is fantastic and we are ready to face any team in the tournament so it really doesn’t bother us much who our next opponent is. All we need to do is to focus on our team and ensure we are ready for each game,” Nyabinge told Nation Sport.

Kenya opened its campaign with a 5-0 win over Zanzibar, before drawing 2-2 with Tanzania in their second match.

Tanzania thrashed Zanzibar 5-0 in another group B match played at the same venue and the results mean that Kenya and Tanzania finish the group stage tied on seven points and have the same goal difference of +9.

Kenya, however, has accumulated more yellow cards (5), while Tanzania has three and therefore finish top of the group while Kenya are second.

Kenya will now face Burundi, who finished third in Group C in Njeru, while Tanzania will face hosts Uganda - who finished third in Group A in Gulu- in the quarterfinals set to be played on Sunday.

Kenya U20 squad that faced Ethiopia

Starting XI: Brian Bwire (GK), Alvin Ochieng, Bonface Mwanagemi, Tom Teka, John Otieno, Fidel Origa, Peter Oudu, Chris Owino, John Njuguna, Musa Masika, Sydney Lokale.

Substitutes: Bixente Otieno (GK), Brian Wepo, Alphonce Otieno, Joshua Nyatini, Patrick Otieno, Ronald Shichenje, Steve Otieno, Austine Otieno, Benson Omala

Quarterfinals fixtures

Sunday

Sudan v South Sudan (Gulu) 1pm

Eritrea v Zanzibar (Njeru) 4pm

Tanzania v Uganda (Gulu) 4pm

Burundi v Kenya (Njeru) 1pm