Harambee Stars have beaten DR Congo 1-0 in a thrilling match at the Kasarani Stadium in their opening Group A match of the CHAN 2024.
DRC had not won any of their last four matches in African tournaments, while Kenya shared a similar fate, having lost all previous 3 matches against African opponents on the continental platform.
Shaky start for Kenya
Both teams came into the match believing a win over the other would be the perfect start of the campaign, well justified by the intensity from the blow of the whistle.
DRC started off stronger, forcing Harambee Stars to commit 2 serious defensive mistakes in the first four minutes thanks to their high pressing.
In the fifth minute, Kenya were fortunate enough to survive the scare of trailing behind earlier in the match after the VAR ruled out DRC’s opening goal after it was reviewed that a foul was committed on Kenya’s skipper Aboud Omar.
This served as a wakeup call for Kenya as they immediately got into the game with 2 shots over the bar in the next 5 minutes, with DRC committing several fouls as they found it hard to keep up with Kenya’s pacy wingers in the attack line.
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The next few minutes saw Kenya play more in the midfield, a man-to-man marking tactic employed by the leopards of Congo to disrupt the quick passes by Kenya’s trio of Austin Odhiambo, Sakwa and Masoud Omar.
Kenya were wasteful with the chances they created in the first forty five minutes, which caused some anger among the crowded fans who were eagerly waiting for what would be Kenya’s first ever goal in the African Nations Championship (CHAN).
With the first half nearly over and four minutes of added time on the big screen, the noise in the stadium was quite significantly low with both sets of fans clearly waiting for the half-time whistle so they could go for the 15-minute break and come back re-energised as the game became uneventful.
Goal for Kenya
In the second minute of additional time in the first half, Harambee Stars was awarded for its beautiful flow of passes from defence to offence, after a counterattack was started by Kenya’s captain Aboud thanks to a decent tackle to deny DRC a goalscoring opportunity.
Austin Odhiambo received the ball from the left wing in an impressive pacy attack, leaving him with just a defender to beat, which he confidently did to leave the DRC defender on the floor, before using his weak foot to finish off the move sending the keeper the wrong way.
The stadium was filled with roar as celebrations begun all the way to the beginning of the second half, with all to play for again and DRC making two changes during the half time break.
The second half started almost similar to the first half, with DR Congo attacking but lacking the expertise to convert the chances they were struggling to create with the changed lineup as well as the Harambee defence line that was now ever laid back and no defender was allowed to go high up the pitch.
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The next 20 minutes were loaded with plenty of fouls mostly by DRC and it was evident that they had to change their playing tactics, if not the players in the pitch.
The DRC coach acted promptly, making two more consecutive changes while Harambee waited till the 70th minute to make their first double change.
The rest of the game saw near misses, poor passing accuracy from DRC and the game having to be stopped severally due to fouls by both sets of players.
The game marked the first win for Kenya in CHAN tournament and a huge motivation for the young Kenyans who gave their all to also score Keny’s first goal in the tournament.
Kenya faces Angola next in their second match at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on August 7, 2025, where they hope to continue their impressive start to the tournament.
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