U-20 team miss flight: Kenya team forced to travel by bus from Jo’burg to Maseru

By RODGERS ESHITEMI

Simon Mashengu is tackled by Michael Ochieng during a past Under-19 football tournament at City Stadium. Kenya’s Under-20 team is in Lesotho. [PHOTO: FILE/

Kenya’s Under-20 national football team was on Tuesday night stranded at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg after missing a connecting flight to Lesotho, where they are expected to participate in the ongoing COSAFA Under-20 Youth Championships.

The 18-man squad, which was supposed to face Mauritius in their opening match on arrival in Maseru, left the country on Tuesday at 9.00 am forcing the organisers to reschedule the clash to Wednesday.

“We are finally in Lesotho after being stuck at OR Tambo for more than seven hours. The situation was a bit difficult, but thank God we managed to overcome it,” said John Kamau, the team’s head coach.

“The boys are in high spirits and one thing for sure is that the flight delay will not deter us from achieving our target.’’

Responding to the claims, Football Kenya Federation Media Officer John Kariuki confirmed that there was a delay in securing their connection to lesotho, though they later got another plane and arrived safely.

night bus

“It’s true the team missed a connecting flight in South Africa due to an organisational hitch.

“The unavailability of a connecting flight forced the organisers to put them in a night-bus and it took the team four and half hours to reach Maseru.

“They safely arrived in Lesotho and are psychologically ready for the tournament,” said Kariuki.

Thika United coach John Kamau is the leader of the delegation with Gabriel Olang serving as the Team manager.

The tournament, which has attracted a total number of 14 teams, kicked-off on Tuesday with Botswana beating Swaziland 2-0 while hosts Lesotho were held to a 2-2 draw by Comoros Islands in the opening fixtures at Setsoto Stadium.

Kenya are in Pool A alongside host Lesotho, Comoros Island and Mauritius while Angola, Mozambique and Madagascar are in Pool B.

Defending Champions Zambia are in Pool C where they will lock horns with South Africa, Namibia and Seychelles.

Pool D contains Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

Kenya is the only invited team for the tournament that kicked-off on Tuesday

The COSAFA Under-20 Youth Championship was first staged in 1983 with Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa being the dominant forces in the region. In the last event held in 2011 Botswana, Zambia stunned Angola 2-1 in the final.

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