The Chapa Dimba na Safaricom North Eastern champions Berlin FC beat LXG to win the Ligi Ndogo East Africa Cup at Kisamis in Kajiado County.
The Garissa based Berlin coached by Ahmed Mohammed won the under 17 and 19 categories by beating LXG and its players winning top honours in the tournament.
In the under 17 category, Berlin FC edged out LXG 1-0 courtesy of an early lone goal netted by Hashim Abdi struck with a stunning free-kick which beat the LXG custodian in the 7th minute.
In the under 19 category, Berlin FC beat LXG in a match decided by penalty shootouts after the encounter ended in a 0-0 draw during normal regulation extra time.
Abdirahman Osman AKA County scored Berlin’s decisive penalty after the Berliners goalkeeper Mohamed Amin AKA Herrera had stopped LXG’s spot kick.
It was double victory for Berlin FC shot stopper, Mohamed Amin alias Herrera who won the Golden Gloves after being voted as the tournament’s best goal keeper.
In the under 13 category, Ligi Ndogo pipped Soccer Talent 2-1. Benjamin Miliso and Yuri Agina were on target for Ligi Ndogo while Daniel Mavuti scored Soccer Talents consolation goal.
Berlin under 17 and under 19 teams players Abdiwahab Abdi famously known as Akram who made his debut against Kajiado Select and Khalid Yussuf, respectively, were feted as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in their respective categories.
The most outstanding players were decided by a jury of technical committee comprising of coaches drawn from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with Spain based tacticians in attendance.
The prize giving ceremony was presided over by Kenya’s national football team coach Jacob “Ghost” Mulee as the chief guest attended by FKF NEC member who is also the Ligi Ndogo Soccer Academy Director,
Daniel Olcina a former winger of six times Spanish La Liga champions Valencia and bronze medal winner in the 2006 European under -17 championship in Luxembourg after Spain finished third now serving as the Ligi Ndogo Sporting Director graced the event that attracted 46 teams.
Mulee urged the national and county governments to allocate more funds to support sporting activities at grass root level, to enable young people nurture their talents.
The three times FKF Kenyan Premier League winning coach, Mulee said many talents among young people go without being exploited as youth lack forums to participate in sporting activities.
“We have untapped talents in the grass root teams across the Country. The Ministry of Sports should invest more in sponsoring small teams and tournament games, as this will help in reaching out to the individual players to be accessed,” said Mulee who is a host and sports commentator at Radio Jambo.
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