John Kasimi of Young Ghetto FC dribbles the ball against Wazoefu FC during the Guinness Night Football in Machakos.
MACHAKOS, Kenya, Nov 3 – Young Ghetto Football Club was crowned the Guinness Night football Mountain Region champions after beating Wazoefu Football Club 1-0 in a tightly contested final in Machakos on Saturday night.
Jones Mwanzia scored the lone goal in the second half to ensure the Machakos outfit are crowned champions after a grueling scoreless first half where both teams were top of their game in search of the crucial goals.
The nut-cracking match had both teams showcasing their prowess inside the pitch, proving to doubters they were the best from the region.
After scoring, Young Ghetto pushed numbers in their own half to defend the slim advantage, something they did to ensure they joined Kisumu’s Stream FC in the national finals.
“Am quite happy with the performance of our team. We were the underdogs in the finals but we proved to be the best team in the region. We now look forward to the National finals in Nairobi and I trust I can continue with my scoring form to help my team to qualify to proceed to Nigeria,” Mwanzia said after guiding his side to victory.
Enroute to the final, Young Ghetto FC beat Mawa FC 2-0 in the knock-out phase, they then defeated Burning City FC 1-0 in the quarter finals. In the Semi-final they triumphed 2-1 against the resilient Machakos Youth Football Club.
In the 3rd place play-offs, the fancied W.I Football Club led by former Gor Mahia and Mathare United midfielder Innocent Mutiso beat Machakos Youth 3-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
Mutiso scored the first goal for W.I FC before Stephanie Wangare equalized for Machakos Youth. Allan Omondi then took the latter 2-1 up, but Anthony Kimani scored alate equalizer for W.I. to send the game to penalties.
The winners walked away with Sh50,000, while the first runners up won Sh20,000 in the regional finals.
The 12-week campaign dubbed ‘Guinness Night Football’ is aiming to give consumers an opportunity to represent Kenya in a pan-African tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.
