Harambee Stars today lost 1-0 to South Sudan couretsy of a goal scored in the wee minutes of the first half.
Coming from a well played and triumped win over the recent World Cup host’s Qatar, so much was expected as the boys came back home to host our neighbours from the southern part of Sudan. Kenyans living in Qatar led by example by thronging and cheering the team as they played away ensuring a 2-1 win back home over the hosts. It was an epic match anfd raised high the hopes of football lovers in the country as they looked forward to a match at home barely three days after.
Slated for 4 pm on Tuesday,Kenyans defied the weekday engagement odds to fill up the Kasarani Stadium in their 10th of thousands to support the team. The venue was lively and expectations were high all the way from when the team was let out for warm up .
Kick Off time was here but no sooner had some fans found their seats, Kenya Police Fc striker Tito Okello gave South Sudan the lead capitalising on the Joseph Okumu mispass which he had opted to make to his goal keeper. Harambee Stars looked composed after the goal and played calm to try create chances and come back into the match. In the 25th minute this almost came to be after Kenya Police Fc’s Kenneth Muguna took a shot from a well set ball only to be deflected over the bar by the Soth Sudanese keeper. This brought a corner-kick after the other pilling pressure on the South Sudan goal post. All the efforts bore no fruits as the match went for half time with the visitors leading.
A minute back into the second half,Elvis Rupia got injured and the Coach was forced to make sub bringing on Amos Nondi. In the 60th minute the Coach made a double sub taking of Kenneth Muguna and Masoud Juma to replace the two by Duke Abuya and Clarke Oduor.Barely 5 minutres after,the captain Michael Olunga missed a glorious chance to draw the match level but his efforts were stopped by the opponents goal keeper who had calculated the move and stpped high. The Coach later brought on Moses Shumah and Timothy Babu for Clarke Oduor and Teddy Akumu to try salvage the match but all was to no avail.
Full Time
Kenya 0-1 South Sudan