Kenya U23 thrash Mauritius

Kenya's Mustafa Bilaal drible ball pst Ferre Jason of Mauritius during the U23 Olympic qualifier match at Kasarani Stadium on Wednesday, Nov 14, 2018. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Kenya’s Emerging Stars thrashed Mauritius 5-0 in the first leg of the Olympic qualifier at Kasarani yesterday.

Two first half goals by Johnstone Omurwa and James Mazembe put Kenya firmly in charge of the match.

Pistone Mutamba, Sydney Lokale and Joseph Okumu completed the rout in the second half.

Emerging Stars started strongly with Ovella Ochieng threatening early on, but blasted wide after beating his markers on the right flank.

Mauritius struggled to get into the match and they could hardly muster any meaningful passes.

A preference for shot balls gave the home team complete control early enough and the visitors were always in trouble.

In the 11th minute Ovella Ochieng’s well taken free kick was put out by Gukoola Neelesh for Kenya’s first corner as the Emerging Stars made efforts to convert their chances.

From the corner Omurwa headed home past a bewildered Figaro Alexander in goal.

Six minutes later the Mauritius goalkeeper did well to deny Ochieng after the former Kariobangi Sharks forward had been put through by Teddy Osok. The visitors finally came into the match in the 27th minute.

Ferre Jason found himself unmarked inside Kenya’s backline, but delayed to release the ball after Brian Bwire had come out early and could easily have been punished.

With that threat handled, a counter attack initiated by Ovella Ochieng with Teddy Osok picking out Mazembe, who headed home the second goal. That goal gave the home team a comfortable lead going into the second half. Despite being two goals up, the Kenyans showed no intention to relent with Mutamba and Lokale adding a goal each in the 54th and 57th minute respectively. Okumu then added a fifth in the 78th minute as the home side strolled to an easy win. 

Coach Francis Kimanzi was delighted by the results and praised his boys for picking such a huge result.

“This was a wonderful performance from the boys because this is like a new initiative for the Olympics team.

“When you have a huge win in your first match, it is really encouraging and impressive for us.

“The boys did their best and showed they are ready to do it. You know this is an experimental group because it is long time since it happened. This is a good platform for them to build their confidence in style,” he said.