Stars through to quarters after beating Ethiopia

Standard Team

Kenya’s Harambee Stars rose to the occasion, beating Ethiopia 2-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Senior Challenge Cup.

The goals that propelled Stars to the knock-out stages came from John Baraza and Allan Wanga who scored in the first and second half.

Baraza showed composure and guts after 50 seconds when he chased a long pass from Edgar Ochieng’ to head past advancing Ethiopia goalkeeper Assefa Dawit.

Wanga assured Kenya the quarter-final berth when he beat his markers to rifle home the second goal from a tight angle on 46 minutes.

Zambia topped Group A with maximum nine points and Kenya, who finished second on six, will face Uganda in the quarters.

Group B winners Rwanda advance to the next round together with Eritrea after they completed the preliminary round with nine and four points each.

Champions Uganda and Tanzania went through the preliminaries in Group C that was staged in Mumias.

Zimbabwe of Group ‘B’ and Zanzibar (Group C) squeezed through as the best losers to join the other six teams in the quarter-finals.

In the match between Kenya and Ethiopia, the hosts opted for a defencive set-up that saw head coach Twahir Muhidin field Christopher Wekesa, Edgar Ochieng’, Ibrahim Shikanda, Jockins Atudo and John Njoroge in the starting line-up.

Kenya thus opted for long balls that bypassed the midfield where Ethiopians showed a lot grit.

Ethiopia created chances and the first one came in the third minute when the pacy Adane Girma cross was parried to safety by goalkeeper Willis Ochieng’ who had a great day between the posts.

Unlike in the first two matches, Stars striking force led by Baraza and Francis Ouma were on the offensive forcing four unfruitful corners in the first half.

The hosts suffered a set back when Baraza limped off injuredand was replaced by Wanga in the 30th minute.

Ethiopia pressed in the late stages but the Kenyans held on for the precious victory.

 

Read all about: Ethiopia Senior Challenge Cup

 

 

---