Emerging stars' opener in the CECAFA championships saw them pounce on Djibouti to seal a 3-0 win at Bahir Dar in Ethiopia on 18th July. Goals from Benson Omalla, John Njuguna and Reagan Otieno gave the under 23 side an impressive kick-off to their campaign.
The Ulinzi Stars forward, John Njuguna drew first blood after scoring a cracker goal in the 11th minute of the game. Despite the Stars bombarding the Djibouti goalmouth, the Horn of Africa nation managed to survive the onslaught and did some damage limitation to go into the halftime break trailing 1-0. 3 minutes after the hour mark, KCB midfielder Reagan Otieno doubled the lead giving the squad a comfortable stride on towards the dying minutes of the game.
K'Ogalo's forward Benson Omala scored the third and final goal with only 3 minutes left on the clock. Coach Stanley Okumbi was elated with the positive start but was disappointed not to win by a bigger margin. “We dominated the game from the first whistle and especially the second half and we deserved to score more than we did but a win is a win and we are happy for the positive start.” Okumbi said. The Emerging Stars will be looking to carry the momentum from the win into their second match of the tournament when they take on South Sudan on Wednesday 21st July.