Champions Githurai dim Dandora Youth

Githurai All Stars (GAS) were in fine form winning the 2024 Sakaja Super Cup launch match setting the ball rolling in their start to the title defence with a 1-0 victory over hosts Dandora Youth FC at the newly refurbished Dandora Stadium.

GAS was awarded a token of Ksh.100,000 for winning Saturday’s match as Dandora Youth also received Ksh 50,000.

Before the match, coordinators from Nairobi East and Nairobi West Football Kenya Federation branches led by Nairobi East Chairman Dickson Doyo and Nairobi West Chairman Caleb Malwey, played a curtain raiser match won by Nairobi East who also receive tokens of Ksh 100,000 and Ksh 50,000 respectively.

In the launch match, the home-side Dandora Youth held off the champions to play out a goalless first half producing several goalscoring opportunities which were swiftly denied by GAS custodian Gregory Kenan.

Githurai All Stars captain Kelvin Njuguna was instrumental in midfield as GAS pressed to break the Dandora Youth defence which was firmly marshaled by the Dandora captain Emmanuel Omondi alongside Jared Okwiri and Romaric Arnaud.

And after the break, it is the Githurai side that was first to press the gas pedal with constant attacks in the hosts goal. It took a moment of magic to break the deadlock as striker Patrick Lugo struck a thunderbold in the 65th minute from outside the box to beat Dandora Youth goalkeeper Felix Mutie who fumbled with the hot shot slipping off his hands to hand Lugo the only goal of the match.

Struck with urgency to level thing, the home team Dandora Youth frontline led by prolific winger Moses Mwangi pressed on in search of an equalizing goal but the GAS defence kept off the constant attacks. Moses Mwangi’s combination with Malcom Otieno nearly found GAS on the break before Kenan was quick to thwart their efforts at the Githurai goal.

In an emphatic show of confidence on the opening day of the second edition of the Sakaja Super Cup, Githurai made a display of class above their opponents as they sought to send a warning to other teams of their intention to retain the title this year in Space and Style.

The Sakaja Super Cup, spearheaded by Governor Johnson Sakaja, aims to foster grassroots football development across Nairobi, offering young talents an unparalleled platform to showcase their skills.

This year's competition will follow a knockout format, with matches starting at the sub-county level.

In the draw, which was conducted  yesterday, to include all the 17 sub-counties in Nairobi, teams which have registered to play in the lower Football Kenya Federation Nairobi Branches leagues will not be required to play in the preliminary knock outs as they got byes into the next round while teams not affiliated to any FKF league will face off as they seek a few representatives from every sub county to join the registered teams in the next round of matches.