Stars win but concern remain about front line

Kenya Harambee Stars Calvin Odongo(R) and Van Dave Harmon of Liberia battle for ball possession during their International friendly at Kasarani Stadium on Tuesday 15/11/16. Kenya won 1-0.PHOTO.BONIFACE OKENDO

Harambee Stars picked their third win in a row IN Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Liberia but concern still remains over the team’s blunt striking force.

Out of the three goals scored by the team, only one was scored by a striker while the rest came courtesy of midfield players.

Sweden-based Michael Olunga scored last month when the team beat Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 away for the first time in almost one year.

Olunga, who is one the leading scorers in Sweden has struggled in subsequent matches against Mozambique and Liberia which Kenya still won by identical 1-0 scores with Eric Johanna and Paul Were scoring a goal each.

Apart from Olunga, Zesco striker Jesse Were has also found it difficult to score goals for Harambee Stars despite his great run for the Zambian side both in the domestic league and the CAF champions league.

Harambee Stars coach Stanley Okumbi has even bent backwards to play Were in an almost similar position he plays at Zesco but even this has not helped with no goal or assist in three matches.

Local strikers have not done better either despite being given chances by Okumbi with John Mark Makwatta one of the leading scorers in the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) making no impact when he was fielded against Mozambique last Saturday.

A frustrated Okumbi admitted that he is worried about the team’s failure to convert chances.

“We have had a good run no doubt but we need to do more. We have been losing so many chances. It happened against Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique and even today against Liberia. It is a problem that we need to deal with,” he said.