Kenya: Big Match for Ulinzi

29 June 2011

Dar Es Salaam — Kenya’s Ulinzi Stars must beat Ports FC of Djibouti if they harbour any hopes of advancing in the Cecafa Club Championships (Kagame Castle Cup) on Thursday.

The Kenyan champions will be in action at the Jamhuri Stadium in Morogoro from 2.00pm in their Group ‘C’ match.

The soldiers were held to a 1-1 draw in their opening match on Tuesday, also in Morogoro.

Ulinzi arrived in “Moro” on Sunday night brimming with confidence and eager to make a bright start to the tournament but fell a goal down to the Ethiopians before drawing level to stay afloat.

Opened group action

Defending champions APR of Rwanda opened group action with APR routing the Djibouti team 4-0. They play St George in Thursday’s late Morogoro match.

Ulinzi at the weekend won the Kenyan Premier League’s Top Eight Cup, beating Western Stima 2-1 on Saturday at the Nyayo National Stadium and flew out a few hours later to Tanzania.

In Wednesday’s Group ‘B’ action, hosts Simba beat Ocean View of Zanzibar 1-0 while Red Sea of Eritrea hammered Enticelles from Rwanda 4-1 to send the Kigali team out of the tournament.

Confederation of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) secretary Nicholas Musonye said he is impressed with the competition so far.

“I was in Morogoro early this week and I’m now back in Dar es salaam and I’m very happy with the way the tournament has started. We have had great matches so far and I believe the best team will come out top,” Musonye said.

Simba SC bounced back in the race after beating Ocean View of Zanzibar in a tight match at the National Stadium in Dar on Wednesday.

Ocean View kept Simba under pressure for most of the second half and, backed by Yanga supporters, the Ocean boys almost upset the form-book with their last-minute relentless pressure.

Simba missed a penalty in the 19th minute when villain-turned-hero Amir Muftar shot weakly into the waiting hands of Ocean’s goalkeeper.

But five minutes later, Muftar turned the game round when he volleyed home the match decider.

Simba created more openings in the first half, but were unable to break the resilient Ocean Boys who have a strong backing from Yanga, Simba’s rivals in Tanzanian football.

The win restored Simba back into the race. On Thursday, El Merriekh play Bunamwaya of Uganda from 2pm in Dar while Yanga take on Elman of Somalia in the evening match.

AllAfrica – All the Time