Coast football giants are staring at a very tough duel against debutants during the Coast region secondary school games set to kick off today at the Shanzu Teachers College and Shimo La Tewa High School grounds.

Mombasa Counta making their first debut in the competition are poised to bring a significant challenge and give the perennial participants a run for their money. Mjanaheri head Coach Jeff Nyamumbo said his charges are high-spirited and are ready for the task ahead.

On their road to victory, the little-known Mjanaheri trounced Vipingo Secondary School to a 1-0 win before another 1-0 win against St Gorges in the semis, and later a 4-0 win against Katana Ngala Secondary in the finals.

In Group B of football, Mombasa champions Serani High School open their fight against Kwale Kinondo Secondary while Mororo of Tana River will play against Lomu’s Kizingitini Secondary School.

However, all eyes will be directed to the Tononoka Secondary and Serani Boys should they meet in the semis as both sides have reputable players who have exhibited prowess in the past matches.

Serani, the defending champions in the 2019 games beat the former Mombasa champions Tononoka Boys by 2-0 goals in a nail-biting final match played last weekend.

Serani under the tutelage of their head coach Alex is optimistic that his charges will deliver victory in the competition.

Serani are also hoping to defend the regional title they won in 2019.

Shikanga

“I’m confident that my boys will go through to the East Africa games because we are fully prepared to clinch the regional title, my team is intact and we want to warn our opponents to brace for a tough contest,” said Shikanga.

His hopes are pegged on the fact that the Kwale county defending champions will not compete after they were bundled out in the county competitions.