It has been a good starting point for Dekedda FC after when they defeated
the Somali police side [Heegan] 1-0 in the inaugural match of the Somali
National league on Monday 28th of December.

This was the 3rd defeat for Heegan in less than two weeks, but this time
they are under a new manager Sheik Saleh Farah who took over the team over
the weekend, when their former coach Ahmed Abdirahman Omar stepped aside
due to two successive failures.

The police side were reduced to 10 men when Mohamed Ahmed Mahmoud was sent out in the 45th minute of the match, but they fought hard until close to
the end of the match when Abdulkader Mohiyadin Hassan AKA Yariis scored
the winning goal for his team in the 90th minute only few seconds before
the end of the match whistle was blown.

However, with this late goal Abdulkader Mohiyadin Hassan AKA Yariis, was
inaugurated the scorer of the first goal in this season’s Somali National
league.

Two of Dekedda’s players Abbaa Amin Mohamed No 14 and Abdiaziz Mohamed Ali No 11 were awarded with yellow cards in the 34th and 71st minutes of the
match.

Apart from those at the stadium, hundreds of thousands of Somalis in and
outside the country were enjoying the match which was broadcast live on
the privately-owned Universal TV whose owner decided to join hands with
Somali FA to promote football in the country.

Somali Football Federation Technical representative in UK Abdirashid Islow
whose job is to recruit talented Somali footballers across Europe for the
national team, was one of the Somalis who were watching Monday’s match
while staying abroad.

Islow said he was happy with the new progress made in Somalia adding that
there were some tangible changes he could see.

“In comparison with how our football was years before and the when we look
back to the hard circumstances Somalia experienced, I can see that there
is some progress.

I am really very hopeful that Somali football will approach high level in the years to come” Islow said during a telephone conversation with Somali FA Media from London.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com