Hockey: Kenya wary of hurdle in Nigerian goal area

Kenya may be quietly confident of progressing to the last stage in the 2024 African women’s hockey Olympic qualifiers but will be wary by of their Nigerian opponents in Thursday’s semi-finals.

The two nations clash at the University of Pretoria, in Pretoria, South Africa from 3.45pm (Kenyan time.

The first semi-final will involve favourites South Africa against Ghana from 1:30pm. The Kenyan girls have singled out Nigeria goalkeeper Martha Uko as a person of interest following her brilliant performance between the posts thus far that has seen the West African progress to the last four in Pretoria.

 Uko,20, has been outstanding for Nigeria, conceding only five goals so far where a lesser talented goalie would have let in double this amount.

She was remarkable on the goal line when Nigeria played South Africa in a Pool "A" match despite losing 4-0.

It's against this backdrop that Kenya head coach Meshack Senge has warned his charges to be alert to the huge obstacle at the other end of the pitch.

"Uko has been amazing with her saves in almost all the matches she has played in and I believe she will want to go a notch higher in our encounter as we fight for a final slot.

She is the player to watch. Our forwards have no choice but to be clinical if we have to get the better of them. A place in the final will be huge for us but bagging the title and qualifying for the Olympics for the first time in the history for the women's team will mean a lot more,” Senge told Nation Sport on phone from Pretoria.

"We had a good run in the preliminary stage and we are thrilled with the performance. We have our guns trained on Nigeria and we hope to finish the good work that we started. But first things first, we have to win against Nigeria. They are no pushovers”

He added: “We have not played them but we have gone through videos of their games and we know what to do. We ask Kenyans back at home to continue praying for us."

Uko’s other conceded goal was against Zimbabwe in their 2-1 win. Unlike Kenya who have fielded either Milicent Adhiambo or experienced Cynthia Onyango in goal, Nigeria have kept Uko on the field for the duration of all their matches.

Uko made her debut during the continental under-18 five-aside tourney in 2018 in Algeria before have senior team debut at the 2022 African Cup of Nations in Accra, Ghana.

On their way to the last four, Kenya dismissed Zambia 4-0,Ghana 3-2 and Namibia 1-0. In the men's semi-final, Egypt will square it off with Uganda, while South Africa will battle Ghana.

Kenya were eliminated in the group stage after falling to Ghana 3-1 in a key Pool "B" match on Wednesday night.