Emerging Stars kickstarted their CECAFA Under 23 tourney with an emphatic 3-0 win over Djibouti in a clash played at the Bahir Dar International Stadium in Ethiopia on Sunday. There were slight concerns heading into the game about the rustiness of the team after staying for two years without any football with their last clash coming in the Under 23 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sudan with some of the team members having exceeded the age limit. We bag all the 3 points 💪#EmergingStars #CECAFAU23 pic.twitter.com/vXakaz8rfk— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) July 18, 2021 A few eyebrows were raised in head coach Stanley Okumbi’s team selection with AFC Leopards midfielder Austin Odhiambo starting from the bench.Stars made their early dominance in the match count as Ulinzi Stars midfielder John Njuguna opened the scoring to settle nerves in the clash and to justify his inclusion into the team.Despite Stars bombarding the Djibouti goalmouth, the Horn of Africa nation managed to survive the onslaught and did some damage limitation to go into the halftime break trailing 1-0.Stars had a mirror start to the second half but had to wait till three minutes after the hour mark when KCB midfielder Reagan Otieno doubled their lead to hand them a slightly comfortable lead.68′ Djibouti 0-2 Kenya11′ Njuguna Collins63′ Otieno Reagan#CECAFA2021 pic.twitter.com/0eJOLn0uxS— Soccer Ethiopia 🇪🇹⚽️ (@SoccerEthiopia) July 18, 2021 Gor Mahia forward Benson Omala who has had a whirlwind couple of months put behind his disastrous stint in Sweden to score the third goal with three minutes left on the clock.Stars currently top Group C with three points and will face South Sudan on Wednesday 21 July.
