CECAFA: Vital''O stuns El- Merreikh

By David Kizito in Darfur

Elman 0 APR 1

El- Merreikh 0 Vital'O 1

FORMER Cranes winger Joseph Kabagambe started on bench until the 43rd minute of the first half when Coach Moshen Osman handed him a chance but could not still help his El-Merreikh club win its first fixture in the ongoing Cecafa-Kagame club championship on Wednesday afternoon.

El-Merreikh, the home club residing in El-Fasher City played a classic game but Burundi’s Vital'O FC held onto their early goal to take the day’s win.

Vital'O scored its lone goal in the 5th minute through Damour Nkurunziza. Kabagambe was however pivotal in this game with brilliant crosses from the right frank and on two occasions, he got close earning his club an equalizer.  

This year’s Cecafa-Kagame Cup edition kicked off amid fanfare in Sudan’s newest and most modern Stadium in Kadugli City, South Kordofan on Tuesday.

But the residents of El Fasher City also spared nothing to stage a colorful Olympic Games-style opening ceremony of their own on the lush green natural grass of a refurbished El Fashir City Stadium. There was music, dancing, marching and display of general arts.

School children marched waving different national flags as a sign of welcoming different participating countries. Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Burundi and Sudan are well represented in this tournament.

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School girls marching with Ugandan flags during the official opening ceremony in El-Fasher stadium on Wednesday.

North Darfur Governor, Osman Mohamed Yousif Kibir, led thousands of Darfurians including a large population of soccer hungry citizens from other parts of the world who work here to a rare treatment of international sport.

One notable aspect of the El- Merreikh club was the presence of a Nigerian striker Williams Adams whose efforts were however frustrated by Vitalo’s solid defence. 

This was the third consecutive match of this tournament that ended 1-0 after Rwanda’s APR also struggled to beat Somali’s Elmnan on the same margin during the first game played at 3:30 pm of the local time here.

In an official opening match played in Kadguli on Tuesday, URA defeated Al-Hilal on the same margin. Both Sudanese home teams have lost their opening matches.