Cecafa Under 17
Somalia win over Kenya Cecafa U17 tourney in Burundi
SOMALIA shockingly beat Kenya 1-0 at Stade Umuco, Muyinga on Friday afternoon to win Group ‘A’ and storm into the Cecafa U17 Championship semi-finals. It was a beautiful treat for pundits who go for the underdogs but the Somalis, who had four points going into the final match of the pool, had warned they would “play the defense of our lives”, to avoid a predicted heavy defeat like the 4-0 Kenya handed hosts Burundi in the tournament opener on April 14.
Starting with 5-4-1 defensive formation, in the early minutes Somalia were unbreakable at the back and very dangerous on the counter. They also had numerous possession from the back which they booted up front to lone striker Farhan Mohamed Ahmed. And when he scored a great goal in the 15th minute, the Somalis had their tails up as Kenyans were shell-shocked.
With a goal in the bag, it was the most comfortable of tasks to apply dogged tactics to frustrate the Kenyans and force minutes to click away. The Somalis smelt their chance of a booming upset when they went into the break 1-0 up and opened strongly in the second period. A panicky Kenya just could not price open the nine-man chain in front of Somali ‘keeper Abdirahman Mohamed Jama.
At post-match Press conference Kenya coach Michael Amenga dwelt a lot on allegation that the referee was “biased”. That the ref left unpunished many Somali fouls and made too many incorrect calls against his team. But he sounded more accurate when concluding that his Kenya players were very complacent.
“Before the match they (his players) thought they would have it easy; that they’d just turn up for the win. Congratulations to Somalia, though, they were very brave and determined.”
Kenya qualified for the semis alongside Somalia after Burundi’s 1-0 over Ethiopia in Gitega equaled Kenya’s points tally (four) but was of inferior goal difference. Amenga’s boys will thus meet Group ‘B’ top team, Uganda who also looked very strong in their 3-0 drubbing of Sudan in Gitega on Wednesday.
Somalia team manager Mohamed Abdulle Farayare who had earlier announced his team’s intended tactics said they worked perfectly. “We turned Kenya into a very ordinary team, thanks to the boys playing to plan.
“ In fact Burundi who in my opinion have very talented boys, albeit much younger and smaller than the powerful Kenyans, would have had a chance if they had had the opportunity to see Kenya before their match. But now we have to sit and talk about how we shall take on whoever — Sudan or Tanzania who play the deciding qualifier on Sunday in Muyinga — we meet in the semi-finals on Wednesday.”
The South Sudan team will start their campaign against Uganda Cubs as the Zonal Africa Cup of Nations U-17 qualifiers kick-off on December 12th in Rwanda.
Seven teams will take part in the qualifiers which will be held at the Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu District.
In the fresh draws conducted on Thursday hosts Rwanda will also battle against Tanzania in a Group B match on Saturday at the same venue.
The other Council of East and Central African Football Associations (Cecafa) member countries Eritrea, Sudan, Burundi did not send teams for the competition, while Somalia are still serving a ban after confirming participation and later failing to play in the Zonal Afcon U-17 qualifiers in 2018.
“We expect a very competitive tournament because teams have been preparing for some time,” said Yusuf Mosi, the Cecafa Director of Competitions.
The best two teams in the qualifiers will represent the region at the Afcon U-17 next year, March 12-31st in Morocco.
Group A: Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan
Group B: Rwanda, Djibouti, Tanzania
Tanzania’s Under-17 football team beat Somalia 2-0 to lift to the UNder 17 CECAFA Championship Cup in the finals match played on Sunday in Burundi.
The intrigues of the Cecafa U17 Championship Final completely overshadowed the bronze medal matchon Saturday at Urukundo Stadium in Buye, Ngozi where Uganda tore apart Kenya 4-1.
Tanzania fans who had streaked across the border into Burundi follow the semi-final action in Muyinga on Wednesday
Somalia had shocked defending champions Uganda Cubs 1-0 in one of the semi-final games at the on-going CECAFA U-17 Championship in Burundi.
The Somalia team handled by Salad Farah Hassan went on to defeat Kenya 1-0 in another group game and also drew goalless against the hosts Burundi.
The tournament that attracted Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and hosts Burundi is fully sponsored by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).
The CAF InfoTech department completed enabling the region to start running its events under the recording of the Competition Management System (CMS). All details; the biography of the young players, line-ups, officials, playing formations, are captured for permanent accuracy.
For the first time, the Cecafa U17 Championship was funded by Fifa under its “Fifa Forward Programme”, the beginning of support for Cecafa’s programmes from now on. It has raised the rating of the tournament as one of the best staged in the region. The organisation also assisted by CAF information technology, is certainly of efficiency unmatched
Cecafa Under 17
CAF President Ahmad lead the crowds to Gitega on Sunday for intriguing Under 17 Final pitting Somalia against Tanzania
The reverberating elimination of Kenya and Uganda from the semi-finals of the Cecafa U17 Championship on Wednesday raised the rating of the tournament as one of the best staged in the region and the organisation assisted by Fifa funding and CAF information technology is certainly of efficiency unmatched.
The CAF InfoTech department completed enabling the region to start running its events under the recording of the Competition Management System (CMS). All details; the biography of the young players, line-ups, officials, playing formations, are captured for permanent accuracy.
Burundi, a small country of just 10 million, loves football and even in the peasant rural setting of the small towns and villages, the passion is being matched by the construction of stadiums built largely by communal labour when construction material is provided by the national and provincial governments together with prominent sports administrators and individuals.
The Cecafa officials, for instance, took time from the already usable stadia, to visit the largest, a 24,000 seater under construction in Makamba, south of the country by the country’s head of football Révérien Ndikuriyo, who is also the speaker of the country’s senate.
The ongoing Cecafa (Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations) junior event comes to a climax on Sunday, with CAF President, Ahmad, attending the Final make the awards. Somalia, of all teams, made the Final to meet an excellent Tanzania side that slew pre-tournament intimidating favourites Kenya, 2-1 in the semi-finals after having sent out a warning by holding Uganda 1-1 in their opening match on April 15.
This is after Kenya and Uganda took a tumble at the penultimate hurdle in Burundi to Tanzania and Somalia respectively in the 2018 edition of the CECAFA U17 Championships.
The Kenya U17 national team went down 1-2 to Tanzania in the semi-final that was staged at the Gitega Stadium in Burundi on Wednesday 25 April.
The Serengeti Boys came from a goal down after Isaiah Abwal had given the Michael Amenga coached side the lead in the 10th minute; Tanzania restoring parity through Jafar Juma in the 21st minute as the game went to the breather tied on a 1-1 deadlock.
The youngsters from Tanzania then had Kelvin Paul to thank as his 62nd minute goal proved the difference, to book a slot in the final.
Somalia shocked defending champions Uganda Cubs 1-0 in one of the semi-final games at the on-going CECAFA U-17 Championship in Burundi.
Uganda Cubs who won the trophy when the Championship was last held in 2009 failed to match the Somalia team that played a highly passing game at the Gitega Stadium.
Ahmed Farhaman scored the winner for Somalia early in the first half. The Uganda Cub piled pressure and got a penalty that Sula Mpuga missed in the second half.
Before the semifinal, Uganda Cubs drew 1-1 with Tanzania in the opening Group B game. They followed with a 3-0 win over Sudan to qualify for the semifinals.
“It is disappointing that we created several scoring chances, but failed to score,” Uganda coach Peter Onen said after the game.
Tanzania joined Somalia in the final after they humbled Kenya 2-1 in the second semifinal game also played on Wednesday.
Somalia started the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Zanzibar, but were awarded the points and three goals after Zanzibar was disqualified from the tournament when they were discovered to have 12 over age players.
The Somalia team handled by Salad Farah Hassan went on to defeat Kenya 1-0 in another group game and also drew goalless against the hosts Burundi.
The tournament that attracted Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and hosts Burundi is fully sponsored by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).
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