•“My dream is to one day play for Harambee Stars. I want to hone my skills and become a great player for the national team,” he noted.
• The tournament has produced some big names with over 30 players currently plying trade with Kenya Premier League clubs as well as foreign clubs.
Image: TEDDY MULEI
The Safaricom Chapa Dimba Garissa final top scorer Mohamed Adan of Wajir All Stars has expressed dreams of playing for Harambee Stars.
This comes after Adan executed a sublime free kick in the second half to seal a 2-0 victory for Wajir against Garissa’s Lyon 04 in a regional final match played at Garissa University on February 25.
Mursal Abdinasir had earlier broken the deadlock in the first half of the match.
Adan hopes he will one day land a call-up to the national team where he will hone his goal-scoring skills.
“My dream is to one day play for Harambee stars. I want to hone my skills and become a great player for the national team,” he noted.
He said his football career has been inspired by his favourite stars Dennis Oliech and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“I used to like watching Oliech. He was such a talented player Internationally and I grew up wanting to emulate him. On the other hand, Ronaldo is my all-time favourite star.”
Chapa Dimba targets to highlight talent at the grassroots level and help the youth gain national recognition, especially with a heavy number of club scouts present during matches.
The tournament has produced some big names with over 30 players currently plying trade with Kenya Premier League clubs as well as foreign clubs.
Most notable are Gor Mahia’s Benson Omalla- currently the league’s top scorer, David Majak of Tusker FC, Jentrix Shikangwa of Simba Queens (Tanzania), and Atem Kato who plies trade in the USA.
Others include Timothy Ouma based in Sweden, Sylvia Makhungu (Austria), Caroline Rufa (Simba Queens) and Cynthia Livondo (Vihiga Queens).
Apart from awarding the top tournament teams, the top players are further granted a once-in-a-lifetime experience with a trip to Spain to train in the top football academies as well as play against top youth teams.
Adan noted that he was looking forward to getting selected for the trip to Spain, noting that it would add much value in terms of his football career.
“I would like to be a part of the team selected to travel to Spain. The trip will help me gain experience in football and also teach me how to handle myself on the pitch,” he stated.
He, however, noted that players from his county faced a lot of challenges owing to the lack of adequate pitches.
“The grounds we play on are very rough and it is easy to get injured. Our passion, however, keeps our flame for the game alive,” he added.
The North Eastern region- Mandera, Wajir and Garissa lack standard football stadiums for tournaments and training.
Adan called on the national government as well as FKF (Football Kenya Federation) to step in and develop stadiums that would be used to develop the sport in the region.
“My message to the national and county government as well as FKF is that they need to prioritize football in the region by developing stadiums.
There are a lot of talented youths in this region. Having state-of-the-art stadiums with training facilities will help grow the sport,” he stated.