No more mistakes for Harambee Stars at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers

Harambee Stars' Joachim Jacob Keli and Issa Hazimana of Burundi of Burundi [PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO]

National team Harambee Stars are two matches away from making it into the group stages of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

It all begins on Sunday when the team travels to Lesotho for the second preliminary fixture of the qualifiers, whose aggregate winner will join Group 'C' that includes Angola, Burkina Fasso and Gabon.

Stars edged out Comoros 2-1 in the first preliminary fixture of the qualifiers while the Southern Africa country eliminated Liberia to set up a date with Kenya.

In terms of pedigree, Kenya looks well-endowed compared to their opponents. While Stars are perennial participants in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, their opponents have not been taking part regularly.

Their participation in the competition has been marred by a lot of withdrawals and failures to enter. They, for-example, gave a wide berth to the 2012 qualifiers.

Furthermore, the tiny Southern Africa country has never made it to the finals of the competition. The team is ranked at a lowly 149 on the Fifa rankings. 

However, while the team has not been active in international competitions, they have one thing going for them- a strong team with players who have stayed together for four years and therefore, understand each other well.

In coach Seephephe Matete, the team has a focused and highly motivated tactician, who is not scared of taking on any of the African giants.

Immediatley his team qualified to take on Kenya, Matete confidently predicted that his side will run over Stars.

On paper, however, Harambee Stars enjoy a slight advantage over their opponents. In six meetings against Lesotho, Kenya has won twice with their opponents winning once and the rest of the matches ending in ties.

The biggest victory by Kenya over their Southern Africa opponents was a 3-0 win during the 1993 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The most recent meeting between the two teams was last year in Zambia during the Cosafa Cup. The match ended in a 2-2 final result.

Going into Sunday's match, Harambee Stars have been hit by the absence of top goalkeeper Arnold Origi. The Lillestom goalkeeper has ruled himself out of the match due to club commitments leaving coach Adel Amrouche with only local based custodians Wilson Obungu, Jerim Onyango and Wycliff Kasaya to pick from.

Origi has expressed his disappointment at missing the match, which is not recognized by Fifa.

"It is a big disappointment to miss this match. Perhaps in future, CAF should consider organizing their fixtures in such a way that make it possible for teams to release their players," he said.

Stars played a build-up match against Burundi on Tuesday in preparation for Sunday's fixture. Though the fixture ended in a barren draw, influential midfielder Macdonald Mariga believes there is a lot to learn from it.

"It gave us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and we should be ready against Lesotho," he said.