Harambee Stars started their campaign in the Four-Nations tournament with a 1-0 victory over Pakistan on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at the Cote D’Or National Sports Complex.
Moses Shummah scored on his debut and was the best-performing player on the pitch for Harambee Stars.
Harambee Stars lone goal
The Kakamega Homeboyz player scored in the 18th minute, and that was the only goal that gave Kenya a morale-boosting outcome in Mauritius. Shummah was one of the players that made their debuts alongside Bryne Omondi, who started in goal ahead of Ian Otieno.
Meanwhile, Pakistan struggled against Harambee Stars in the first half and conceded when they could not clear a dangerous cross. At the time, no one was marking Shummah, who slotted home his first-ever goal for the national side.
Engin Firat’s charges would have scored more goals as they were the most dominant side in the first half. A great chance to take the lead came in the fourth minute, but David Ochieng could not find the back of the net despite connecting to a corner ball.
There were also chances that were not converted into goals by Michael Olunga and Shummah before the halftime break.
Firat’s changes
Firat made changes in the game; Aboud Omar was replaced by Abdalla Hassan, Daniel Sakari came off for Police FC forward Clifton Miheso, and Shummah was taken out for Daniel Anyembe. A late change in the 86th minute saw Firat bring on AFC Leopards’ Victor Omune for Amos Nondi.
The win is a positive result for Kenya, who travelled late for the Four-Nations tournament.
This could have been Kenya’s second game, but the delayed travel meant that they could not take on Djibouti as was earlier scheduled.
The competition is expected to help Harambee Stars prepare for their upcoming engagements during the FIFA international break in November 2023.
Gauging Fitness levels
The non-competitive tournament is also helping the coach gauge the fitness and competitive levels of his players ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers.
Harambee Stars will participate in those qualifiers after a suspension that ruled them out of the 2023 AFCON qualification was lifted.
Firat has been emphasizing the need to have Kenya play high-profile games as he hopes to create a competitive team.
He has been stressing the need not to focus on immediate results but on the long-term goals of building a strong squad that can challenge in high-profile tournaments.
His first engagement after the FIFA suspension was lifted was a match against highly-ranked Iran on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Kenya lost by a 1-0 margin despite taking the lead courtesy of Michael Olunga’s early second-half goal.
Olunga silenced
In the match against Pakistan, Olunga, the Qatar Stars’ League winner and the Golden Boot holder for last season, did not shine as Shummah stole the show.
The victory is expected to relieve pressure on Firat, but how the team performs generally in the tournament, which also has Djibouti and Mauritius as participants, will determine whether he will be under criticism going forward.
Harambee Stars will now shift focus to their next game against Mauritius on Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Pakistan Starting XI: Yousaf Butt, Mamoon Musa, Easah Suliman, Abdullah Iqbal, Ali Khan, Mohammed Sufyan, Rahis Nabhi, Ali Uzair, Haroon Hamid, Otis Khan, Hassan Bashir
Subs: Saqib, Waheed, Omer, Haseeb, Abdullah, Alamgir, Salman, Saman, Adnan.
Harambee Stars starting XI: Byrne Omondi, Amos Nondi, Aboud Omar, Daniel Sakari, David Ochieng, Collins Shichenje, Anthony Akumu, Richard Odada, Michael Olunga, Moses Shumah
Subs: Ian Otieno, Brian Bwire, Kevin Otiala, Robinson Kamura, Benson Omala, Charles Ouma, Joseph Mwangi, Daniel Anyembe, Hassan Abdallah, Clifton Miheso, Victor Omune, Boniface Onyango.
