![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/inbound4104012590208379900-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter scoring in the first leg at Nyayo Stadium, the Nairobi United midfielder was directly involved in Kenya\u2019s crucial away goal in Tanzania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Kenya trailing and under intense pressure, Wangaya provided the delivery from a short corner before Andreas Odhiambo finished to give Kenya a vital lifeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Tanzania went on to win the match 3-1, Kenya’s first-leg advantage proved enough to send the Emerging Stars through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wangaya leads the Naibois charge<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wangaya has arguably been Nairobi United\u2019s standout performer across the two legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The midfielder scored and provided assists in Kenya\u2019s 4-1 demolition of Tanzania in the first leg before producing another important contribution in the return fixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His performances have further strengthened his growing reputation as one of the exciting young players emerging from the Nairobi United setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The club’s influence, however, went beyond Wangaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Awiko and Bate both started the first leg, with Syphas Owuor coming on in the second half to take the number of Nairobi United players on the pitch to four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Five players from the club were therefore involved across the two matches \u2014 a significant representation for a club that continues to establish itself as an important pathway for young Kenyan talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Nairobi United to the national stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Emerging Stars’ qualification is another important step in the development of the players, but it is also a major endorsement of the work being done at Nairobi United.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Naibois have increasingly become a club where young players can develop, compete at a high level and earn opportunities to represent Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tanzania tie offered the latest evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four Nairobi United players were trusted to start the decisive second leg, while Wangaya once again delivered when Kenya needed him most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a club whose ambitions extend beyond domestic football, having five players involved in a major international U23 qualifier is a significant milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kenya will now face C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in the second round, with a place in the next stage of the U23 AFCON qualification campaign at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Nairobi United, attention will also turn to the next generation waiting for their opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Wangaya, Awiko, Bate, Omalla and Syphas are anything to go by, the Naibois could have an increasingly important role to play in supplying talent to Kenya\u2019s national teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Naibois are not just building a club. They are increasingly becoming part of the national-team story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nairobi United\u2019s growing influence in Kenyan football was on full display as five of the club\u2019s players played a key role in Kenya\u2019s dramatic qualification for the second round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations U23 qualifiers. The Emerging Stars survived a major scare in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday night, losing 3-1 to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":19658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19657,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19650\/revisions\/19657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/inbound7570041284853344951-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/inbound2546102016740572690-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nNairobiUnitedFC<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"