Stars fail to tame Antelopes: Kenya hold Ethiopia in Cecafa Senior Challenge

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) vice chairman Robert Asembo was quick to dismiss reports of discontent by the coach insisting that whatever issues he had were sorted out on Tuesday night.

“He had some issues but we sorted it all out on Tuesday,” explained Asembo who declined to elaborate further.

Back on the pitch, the home team was not in the match for the most part of it with no clear cut chances to write home about.

Edwin Lavasta’s cutting cross in the fourth minute was the best chance the home team had in the entire first half  but there was no one to complete the effort.

Six minutes after that, Ethiopia threatened to punish the Kenyan defence with Yousuf Yassin releasing a low ground shot that was expertly dealt with by Duncan Ochieng’.

One minute later, Ethiopia were taking charge of the game as they won a free kick at the edge of the Kenyan defence but the effort from Yassin went wide.

AFC Leopards striker Allan Wanga should have scored the goal separating both sides but he failed to connect a David Gateri effort heading wide with plenty of space to score from.

Three minutes later, Francis Kahata’s  shot was the first to bother the Ethiopian goalkeeper Derete Alemu who kept out the danger for Kenya’s first corner of the  match.

Then David ‘Calabar’ Owino was cautioned for a rough tackle on an opponent as the visitors kept up the pressure on the Kenyan defence.

With seven minutes to go before the break Gebremichael Yakob surprised Duncan Ochieng with a low ground shot which the Kenyan goalkeeper did everything to keep out but conceded a corner in the process.

more aggressive side

Stars were the more aggressive side as the second half kicked off but could not manage to keep up the pressure and break down their opponents.

Stand in coach James Nandwa said they were playing against a fully prepared side and termed the draw a big plus.

“Ethiopia have come here after playing Nigeria which means they had good preparations. We had only ten days of training and in this circumstances I can say we have done well. We must win our next match and there is no debate about this,” he said.

Meanwhile, Zanzibar started their campaign in this year’s Senior Challenge Cup with a 2-1 win over South Sudan at Nyayo National Stadium.

Suleiman Kassim Suleiman scored the opening goal to this year’s competition in the fifth minute for a 1-0 lead in favour of Zanzibar.

 South  Sudan pilled on the pressure but luck was not on their side as their opponents intensified their hunt for the second goal. 

Ten minutes into the second half Zanzibar’s coach Salum Nasur brought in Amour Mohd for Adeyum Saleh and after only two minutes of play, Saleh scored after receiving a fine cross from Ali Badra Ali for a 2-0 lead. 

Zanzibar coach Nasur said his players relaxed in the second half but he was happy with the results saying he is looking forward to positive results against Ethiopia in their next match.

 South Sudan coach Balanga Ismael brought in Fabian Lako for Francis Khamis and this bore fruits as Lako made it 2-1.

Both teams were looking for a positive start in the competition to boost their chances of winning the title.

Zanzibar carried their experience into the game, considering their constant participation in the regional tournament.

Last year, Zanzibar made it to the quarter-finals of the competition, while South Sudan, who are participating in the competition for the second year, laboured to keep their hopes alive but never made it.

 Despite the 2-1 loss, South Sudan coach Ismail Balanga was ‘happy’.

According to Balanga, South Sudan’s Bright Star’s are used to heavy defeats like witnessed in 2011 and 2012 in Tanzania and Uganda.

“Since the formation of South Sudan’s national team it has been losing 11-0, 12-1, and 9-0 and so on, I can tell you people back at home will be happy to hear that we reduced the margin to 2-1 wjen we lost to Zanzibar Heroes yesterday,” said Balanga.

The former Congolese captain and centre back revealed that South Sudanese will not hold him responsible for the loss as he has been with team for only 47 days.

“What can a coach change for only 47 days? You need to be with the team for a while in order to gel, I am forming a new team which hopefully will start winning in the future,” he said.

—Reports by Gilbert Wandera, Rebeca Gichana and Erick Ochieng’