Olunga sends warning to opponents with pre-season brace
By Joel Sang, July 27, 2023Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga scored twice as Al Duhail SC earned a 6-0 victory over SV Heiming on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in Austria.
The Qatar Stars League champions are in Austria for their pre-season programme and managed to see off the lowly-ranked side in a game in which Olunga scored the two opening goals.
Olunga was in action for 50 minutes and grabbed two goals within that period before the other ones were netted by Sultan Al-Buraik, Rashid Al-Abdullah, Abdul Rahman, and Abdul Aziz Muhammad.
The Qatar Stars League side has another friendly lined up against SV IMST on Monday before their focus shift to the upcoming season.
Transfer rumours
Meanwhile, Olunga now looks more focused on remaining with his club, despite numerous reports linking him with a move in the transfer window. The towering striker had been linked with Turkish giants Fenerbahce, Scottish giants Rangers, Premier League side Everton, and Brazilian outfit Corinthians.
The rumours emerged after the former Gor Mahia had an impressive run last season, where he not only helped Al Duhail win the league title but also defended the Golden Boot award despite stiff competition.
Olunga scored 22 goals to weather the Golden Boot race storm, and this attracted numerous reports linking him with a move, but that is, for now, unlikely to happen.
Wanyama absent
Elsewhere, Victor Wanyama was not involved for CF Montreal during their League Cup match against DC United. The Canadian side crashed out of the cup competition after losing 1-0, and Wanyama was not named in the matchday squad.
Erik Hurtado scored for DC United to eliminate Wanyama’s side, but CF Montreal head coach Hernan Losada was hurt by the elimination, although he remained confident as he looked forward.
“We created enough chances to win this game, and the second half was completely dominant. I don’t believe the team could have done more than this. I’m very proud of all the efforts we made to create so many opportunities to score. It’s painful, but we know that it’s going to be like that until the end of the season,” Losada said in the post-match address.