The excitement, suspense and fun associated with grassroot soccer dominated the second day of the ongoing U-17 Airtel Rising Stars African Championship as Malawi and Madagascar put up fine shows to conquer strong opposition from Uganda and Kenya.
In the first group game of the fixtures at the National Institute for Sport, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Malawi beat Uganda 1-0 in the female category, setting themselves in pole position to qualify for the knock-out stages.
Malawi started the game the stronger side, dominating the entire first half.
They finally broke the deadlock in the 46th minute, with a superb finish from top striker, Rina Chipili.
It was a low cross into the box and Chipili, spotting Jersey No 14, was just at the right place and made no mistakes as she hammered the ball into the net.
In the second group match at the NIS stadium, the boys from Madagascar defeated their Kenyan counterparts 3-2 in a five goal thriller
Madagascar took the lead in the sixth minute of the first half through Lalaina Andriana’s solo effort.
Kenya’s troubles were further compounded by Jean Yvon, who made it 2-0 through a deflected shot six minutes later.
The goal was a wakeup call for Kenya as they improved the tempo of their game and even came close to scoring. Madagascar showed their class, absorbed the pressure by putting one more goal past the Kenyan team.
The goal came from the boot of Heriniana, a superb solo effort beating the goalkeeper and putting the ball into an empty net.
Kenya were not ready to let go that easily and in the 26th minute, Josephat Oyugi pulled one back making it 3-1 at the end of the first half.
Kenya started the second half looking the better of the two sides.
This paid off as they finally got their much needed goal from Vichodemus Otieno in the 53rd minute.
However, the consolation goal was not enough to earn Kenya a point.
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