• Every time he touches the ball and spearheads a forage into the opponent’s territory, the stands go silent with anticipation before erupting into wild cheers after he blasts the net.
• Omalla, 25, proved his mettle as a razor-sharp striker after emerging second in the cutthroat race for the Golden Boot in the preceding season.
Image: FILE
High-flying Gor Mahia striker Benson Omalla is currently having one of his best seasons ever.
The mercurial striker is in a league of his own, having scored four goals in six matches.
Omalla, a quick-paced marksman capable of unleashing rasping shots with either leg, single-handedly carried the club on his shoulders with his magical runs in the preceding season, where he finished with 25 goals.
He has undoubtedly won over the hearts of the picky K’Ogalo devotees, who are typically unforgiving of a lacklustre performance.
Every time he touches the ball and spearheads a forage into the opponent’s territory, the stands go silent with anticipation before erupting into wild cheers after he blasts the net.
His most recent outstanding accomplishment came on Saturday when he netted a brace to lead his team to a 2-0 victory over bitter rivals AFC Leopards in the Mashemeji derby at the Moi Stadium, Kasarani in Nairobi.
From the look of things, the fleet-footed clinical finisher is having a good time at work. He has been scoring at will while blazing past his opponents with unmatched ease.
Omalla, 25, proved his mettle as a razor-sharp striker after emerging second in the cutthroat race for the Golden Boot in the preceding season.
His glory was nipped in the bud by Elvis Rupia, a former Police FC striker who has since joined Singinda Fountains in the Tanzania Premier League. Rupia scored 27 goals — two better than Omalla — on his way to the Golden Boot.
An alumnus of the famous Kisumu Day High School, Omalla’s meteoric rise began in 2018 when he won the Golden Boot at the Chapa Dimba na Safaricom tournament’s Nyanza region and national finals.
His outstanding exploits in a series of youth tournaments earned him a contract with the now-defunct Western Stima in the Kenyan Premier League the following year.
At 17, and still in school, he became the youngest player ever to win the LG Player of the Month Award while featuring Western Stima in the 2019 KPL season. Omalla then signed a five-year contract with Gor Mahia in June 2020 and the rest is history.
Surprisingly, national team head coach Engin Firat thinks Omalla is still not good enough to make his squad.
The striker was conspicuously absent from the star-studded 23-man Harambee Stars squad named on Sunday for the friendly match against Russia this weekend.
Interestingly, Firat said he had meticulously rummaged through the local and international landscape for quality talent and failed to spot Omalla.
The best Firat did was to name the talented lad in the lineup for a friendly match against Mauritius in the four-nation tournament on June 18. In an earlier interview, Firat said he does not find Omalla aggressive enough for the big stage.
It beats logic how a top-notch player, who emerged at the summit of the goalscorers’ leaderboard last season, can easily be dismissed as a non-starter.
Rupia has also been left out despite his impressive form in Tanzania where he managed to find the back of the net on his debut match for Singinda Fountain.
Firat has drafted Kakamega Homeboyz striker Moses Shummah for national duty. Shummah was brilliant in the preceding season but didn’t come anywhere close to Omalla’s exploits, even though he managed to score a goal for Kenya against Pakistan.
Also on Firat’s list of preferences is Al Jabalain forward Masoud Juma, who hardly scores. Others are Norway-based striker Alfred Scriven and team skipper Michael Olunga.