Gilbert Wandera
1 May 2008
Nairobi — The national Under-20 team got the better of Dagorreti Santos with a 3-0 win in a friendly match at the Nyayo National Stadium.
This was the second win for the team in as many days ahead of their continental match against Somalia. They hit Tusker 4-1 on Monday.
Ahmed Ali opened the scores for the winners in the 29th minute in yesterday's match after tearing through the Dagoretti defence.
Four minutes later it was the turn of Hussein Pozzo to score. Pozzo then set-up Kevin Omondi for the third goal in the 38th minute.
Santos placed fifth in the Nationwide league standing defended well in the opening minutes and even appeared to take the match to their opponents.
With pressure mounting on the winners, Eugine Asike hacked Juma Ogutu of Santos in the eighth minute of the match and referee Carton Ochieng pointed to the penalty spot.
Nelson Njoroge, however, shot wide and the miss somehow inspired the national side to put in more effort.
First, Pozzo missed a clear chance in the 18th minute when he failed to convert a clear-cut chance. The pressure seemed to crack the Santos defence, which revolved around David Ochieng, David Dada and Nelson Njoroge.
With goals in the bag, coach Leonard Saleh shuffled his team bringing in fresh players but appeared to prefer hitting the ball around with no intention of adding more goals.
Santos made several efforts at goal but were thwarted by their more experienced opponents.
Elsewhere, Somalia, Kenya's opponents on Saturday have rejected a hotel booked for them on Thika Road.
Kenya Football Federation (KFF) Technical Director, Patrick Naggi, said the team has booked alternative accommodation in Eastleigh.
"We booked them at Roasters Inn but they have not checked in. We hear they are in Eastleigh Estate. They have not even taken up the training ground we have offered them," said Naggi.
He denied that the KFF officials had not facilitated Somalia's entry into the country as alleged by the team when they arrived yesterday.
"It is not true that they sent us names of their players and officials to help them acquire visas. They did not do that. We were not aware they were coming as claimed," he said.
Somali officials bitterly complained of being detained at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for 16 hours on Monday and accused KFF officials of failing to receive them when they arrived.
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