Rich vein of form: Olunga hits 7 in Japanese league match

In another life, Michael Olunga Ogada could have been have an engineer.

He is a young lad who is roundly talented, with vast potential.

Some seven years back, he sat his KCSE examinations and scored a straight Grade A which earned him admission at the Technical University of Kenya(TUK) which was back then a campus of the University of Nairobi to study Geospatial Engineering.

But you see, this kid has a lot of potential, football being one of them. With such  burst of opportunities, one had to give way – either academia or football – the latter prevailed.

And ever since he announced his arrival at the national stage with Gor Mahia in 2015 when he bagged the Kenyan Premier League Most Valuable Player award as K’Ogalo carted the league title unbeaten, blessings have been bountiful for the lanky sharp-shooting Harambee Stars striker.

With the local league conquered, he soon boarded a plane to Sweden, inking a deal with IF Djurgardens in the top-tier Swedish league. Olunga went on to be a star-performer here with 13 league goals including scoring in seven consecutive league matches.

His football journey would then lead him to the East, landing in China then to Spain, inking a deal for Girona FC before eventually docking at his current outfit- Kashiwa Reysol- a team which competes in the Japanese second tier league.

In sunny Spain, he’s best remembered for  scoring a hat trick against Las Palmas in a La Liga match in a span of 22minutes in their 6-0 win on January 13, 2018 , becoming the first African to score a treble in the Spanish top division.

And at Reysol he’s been a fan favourite, banging goals left right and centre so much so that they continually chant his name.

‘Micaah…Micaah Olunga…Jambooo… Jamboo Sanaa…,” such has been the chants as the club faithful attempt to connect with his Kenyan roots.

Then, with the love hitting fever pitch, thanks to the team earning promotion to the top tier league next term, having been crowned champions of the division, Olunga did not let it rest there.

On Sunday, in a Japanese League 2 clash against Kyoto Sanga, the Upper Hill alumnus did the unthinkable.

He scored – that’s now common, right? But it was not just a goal- not two, not three or  four – but  seven as his team went on to win 13-1.  Olunga thus  ended the campaign with 25 goals, just two shy of the Golden Boot winner Brazilian Leonardo Nascimento of Abiirex Nigatat.

His team mate Cristiano Da Silva scored a hat-trick for Keshiwa with other goals coming from Matheus Savo who scored a brace. Yesuke Segawa was also on target to complete the demolition.

Overall, Olunga has been phenomenal this year for club and country, and was on the mark at the international break as Kenya held Egypt to a one-all-draw in Alexandria in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.