Ilala striker Goodluck Mabiriki (L) scrambles for the ball with Lindi’s Khalfan Malibiche during the Airtel Rising Stars tournament match played at the Karume Memorial Stadium in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Ilala won 5-1 to cruise into today’s semis. (Photo courtesy of a correspondent)

The semi-finals of the second edition of the Airtel Rising Stars under-17 tournament gets underway today at the Karume Memorial Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

The matches will be played in two sessions of morning and afternoon with both boys and girls teams battling it out to win the final berth.

The finals will be played on Sunday at the Karume Memorial Stadium in the evening to be preceded by the third and fourth playoff match.

Mbeya, Temeke, Ilala and Arusha regions have managed to squeeze into the last four of the tournament for both girls and boys teams.

During the morning session the first semi-final will be between Mbeya girls versus Temeke kicking off at 08:00 hours. The girls match will be followed by the boys one involving Mbeya and Ilala teams.

The other semi-finals will be played later in the afternoon with the first match for girls involve Arusha and Ilala kicking off at 14:00 hours.

The day will be concluded by the boys’ semi-final between Temeke and Arusha kicking off two hours later.

The teams have sailed into the crucial stage after finishing on top of their respective groups.

Mbeya girls kicked off the tournament by beating Arusha 3-2 on Monday and went on to register an impressive 4-0 victory over Temeke. Their boys’ team beat Arusha 2-1 on the opening day before battling it to a one-all draw with Kinondoni.

Temeke boys cruised into the semi-finals with a record of 12-2 triumph over Lindi in their opening match then breezed past neighbours Ilala by 3-0 victory.

The tournament has been attracting the attention of many Dar es Salaam football fans and coaches who seek to scout talents to beef up their top flight sides.

During Wednesday matches Temeke girls beat Ilala 2-0 with Madeline Sylvester scoring the opener after 12 minutes while Zuhura Seleman netted the second goal on the brink of half time mark.

In boys category Temeke beat Ilala 3-0 with goals by Khalid Mwenda on the 28th, Paul Balama added the second on 43rd and Bakari Ally made his name on the score sheet for the third goal three minutes to time.

In another match played during the evening, Arusha girls beat Kinondoni 2-0 with Anitha Anthony scoring the brace on the second and 35th minutes of the match.

Kinondoni boys’ team held Arusha to a 2-2 with Omar Ramadhan and Jarafu Lutonga were on target for Kinondoni on the 13th and 55th minutes, while Nazir Abdul a double for Arusha on the 22nd and 82nd minutes, respectively.

At the end of the tournament on Sunday, three boys and as many girls will be selected for career development under Manchester United coaches in the scheduled Nairobi clinic.