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Manyatta FC from Nyanza edged out Western region’s Lugari Blue Saints 2-1 in a tough match played at Kinoru Stadium in Meru County on Saturday to qualify for Sunday’s do-or-die final with Al-Ahly FC at this year’s Chapa Dimba na Safaricom Youth tournament.
Al-Ahly FC from Kajiado qualified for finals after pipping Nairobi champions South B United 3-2 in a penalty tense shoot-out after a 2-2 stalemate.
Former Liverpool and Barcelona star Luis Javier Garcia made an appearance Saturday afternoon interacting with the youngsters, and will grace Sunday’s finals where the winners will pocket Sh1 million and second-placed teams will walk away with Sh500,000.
The Kisumu-based side opened the scoring through Fredrick Nehemiah, who connected with Peter Ochieng’s free kick, to slot home a low shot past keeper Clinton Wekesa in the tough encounter christened “mashemeji derby”.
However, Lugari Blues Saints rallied with persistent sleek passes and were rewarded in the 43rd minute when they staged a wonderful counter-attack through Dennis Alusa, who sprinted to the opponent’s left flank, and supplied a pinpoint pass to Dennis Atsenga, who easily scored to level the score.
The Blues upped their game in the second half and were a major challenge to Manyatta before the Nyanza champions made several substitutions, the game changer being introduction of captain Austin Otieno who came in for Mark Ochieng who had been injured.
The change quickly bore fruits with Otieno supplying crucial balls forward, where Nehemiah was lethal, scoring the winner 10 minutes before time.
“The match was tough especially the second half where it was so tense. We are happy to have won since the opponents were equally fit,” said Austin.
In the girls’ final, Kitale Queens and Acakoro Ladies from Nairobi will also face off in the girls grand finals on Sunday.
Kitale Queens and Acakoro Ladies qualified for the grand finale after beating their opponents Barcelona Ladies from Central 6-1 and Changamwe Ladies from Coast 4-2 respectively on Friday.
