Kisumu Day student Omalla not under pressure to get Harambee Stars call-up

Western Stima tactician Salim Babu says rising striker Benson Oching Omalla is under no pressure to impress Harambee Stars head coach Francis Kimanzi, adding that his time to don the national team colours will come.

Kimanzi  last week released the list of 16 local based players set to report to camp in preparation for an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros later this month, but Omalla did not make the cut.

The 17-year-old Form Four student at Kisumu Day High School has been in good form grabbing one of Stima’s goals in the weekend 2-0 win against Posta Rangers sending his season haul to 9 goals.

“We are very confident that soon he will be donning the national team jersey; he might miss this selection or the next but once he gets a call up, he will never be dropped because he is that good. For now, the coach knows the type of players he wants to use,” he said.

“I keep urging him to take his time and keep scoring the goals, the rest will fall into place.”

And Omalla’s act at the weekend had Babu purring describing him as  “the complete package”, adding that his hard work will soon pay off.

“He is a typical striker in that you might not see him during most parts of play but he will pop up with the important goods. He works hard in training though we are not together throughout due to his schooling, the few times he trains we can see him put in a shift, he will go far,”he added.

Omalla’s impressive displays have not gone unnoticed with his fans in the lakeside city of Kisumu greeting his every touch of the ball in the weekend game.

“I am used to the atmosphere here in Kisumu because I have played in front of these fans for quite some time. The work of a striker is to score and it does not matter if I get many touches or not. As long as I am in the right place at the right time, that’s all that matters,”said Omalla.

On the national team call up, he said:  “The right time will come and if I get the call up, I will go. For now, I’m fully focused on Stima,” he concluded.