Homa Bay Combined glide into Eliud Owalo Super Cup finals

Homa Bay Combined in action against Migori Youth Combined during Eliud Owalo Super Cup on Tuesday in Homa Bay.[James Omoro,Standard]

Homa Bay Combined FC qualified for the finals of the Eliud Owalo Super Cup on Tuesday after knocking out Migori Combined 2-1 in the semifinals played at Raila Odinga Stadium in Homa Bay County.

Enos Ochieng gave the hosts a narrow 1-0 half time lead after netting in the 45^th minute before Jacob Onyango made it 2-0 at the hour mark.

Ben Stanley scored the consolation goal for Migori in added time as Homa Bay became the first team to qualify for the finals of the inaugural tournament.

Homa Bay Combined will now meet the team that will win the second semifinal match between Kisumu Combined and Siaya Combined.

Kisumu Combined and Siaya Combined will play at Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu on Wednesday.  Play offs and inter-counties finals will be played in the same stadium on Thursday.

The winning team in the inter counties final will play Gor Mahia FC at Nyilima Grounds in Asembo, Siaya county on Saturday this week.

The tournament is sponsored by Eliud Owalo Foundation for teams in four Nyanza counties namely Migori, Homa Bay, Kisumu and Siaya.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo speaking at Raila Odinga Stadium in Homa Bay on Tuesday after Homa Bay Combined FC defeated Migori Combined FC 2-1. [James Omoro, Standard]

Speaking after the match, Owalo said the tournament is aimed at developing and nurturing talent of the youth.

“We have started this tournament to develop and nurture talent of the youth in Nyanza region. We are doing it from the lowest level, community teams,” Owalo said.

In what seems to be reason to smile, the youth who participate in the tournament will be selected to join major football teams which play Kenya Premier League.

Owalo said he had arranged with officials of the major teams to start selecting the youth who are talented in football so that they can join their teams.

“We have representatives of robust teams which play the KPL and scouts here.  Their role is to identify talents to enable our youth to join their teams,” Owalo said.

The Operations Manager of Gor Mahia FC Jolawi Obondo said the tournament is a good opportunity for Nyanza  youths and football teams in the country to build each other.

"This tournament is a good opportunity for talent development. As Gor Mahia FC, we consider it an opportunity for getting players from Nyanza region. The youth of this region also have the opportunity to join our team," Obondo said.

Gerald Omollo, a member of the technical committee co-ordinating the tournament, said the winners will be presented with cash awards and trophies.

The winners will get Sh400,000, Sh300,000, Sh200,000 and Sh100,000 for positions one, two, three, and four respectively.

"The best players and scorers will also be awarded," Omollo said.