KSSSA: Highway down Musingu, crowned national football champions

Highway Secondary School are the new national boys’ football champions, after overcoming Musingu High 3-2 in post-match penalties in a closely contested final at the Gusii Stadium, Kisii.

Not even the extra time could decide the winner, after the teams had settled for a 1-1 draw in the regular time, forcing the shootouts.

Musingu drew the first blood in the 11th minute through Elvis Ochieng, but the Nairobi champions needed only eight minutes to restore parity when Alvin Oloo found the back of the net, a score that would remain unchanged to the shootouts.

Highway, coached by celebrated Harambee Starlets coach Beldine Odemba, were dealt a blow when their captain Miguel Osotsi was shown a red card, forcing them to play a man less in the extra time.

But they were tactically able to stop a determined Musingu side, much to the joy of Odemba who will however miss the East African Games set to be held in Uganda later this month.

“I’m grateful to God for this far, we came with a purpose and today we have achieved it. When we won the Nairobi Region title, we promised that we were coming here to represent the region in the best way possible and we have succeeded in doing so.

“We have been taking a game at a time, because we knew we were playing the best of the best in the country. That’s why when we lost one player through red card, we switched from physical play to more of tactical approach. We also had to charge our boys psychologically that they needed to work extra to cover for the gap,” an exhilarated Odemba explained.

“Unfortunately, I will not be with the team in the East African games since I will be away with Police Bullets for the Cecafa Women’s Championship. We however have a very coach, my assistant Ocholla who has also been very instrumental in our victory here. He will guide the boys in Uganda and I believe we will have a good competition there since we know most of the opponents to expect,” Odemba elucidated.

Having guided Police Bullets to the Kenya Women Premier League (KWPL) in their first season of asking, Odemba will be out to secure a CAF Women’s Champions League slot by winning the Cecafa title in Ethiopia.

In the girls category, Butere Girls won the national title with a 2-0 victory over Nyakach.