Austin Odhiambo labels Kenya playing home matches away from home as a ‘negative sign’
With the main stadiums - Kasarani and Nyayo - being prepared to co-host the 2024 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) and 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Harambee Stars have not enjoyed the benefits that come with playing at their backyard with the last time being on September 12th, 2023.
During the FIFA day international friendly against South Sudan at Kasarani Stadium, Kenya suffered a 1-0 defeat courtesy of a second-minute goal from former Gor Mahia striker Tito Okello.
That was the last time Harambee Stars set foot on Kenyan soil to host an international match and they have gone ahead to play 15 matches in all competitions and none in the country.
In their World Cup qualifiers, they hosted African champions Ivory Coast at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe, Malawi in a game they managed a 0-0 draw.
In the 2026 AFCON qualifiers, they hosted Zimbabwe in their group opener at the Stade Nelson Mandela Stadium in Uganda and snatched a 0-0 draw, before hosting Cameroon at the same venue, in a matchday four game they lost 1-0.
Kenya players want to play in front of their fans
Kenya’s woes will continue on Sunday, November 3rd, when they seek to avenge their first-leg defeat suffered at the hands of South Sudan in their CHAN qualifier. Kenya will host the Bright Stars at Mandela Stadium in Uganda.
During the first leg played at the Juba National Stadium a fortnight ago, the Bright Stars needed a strong second-half display to dim Harambee Stars with goals from Ezbon Malish and Johannes Folino.
With Kenya seeking to avenge the outcome and playing the game without their fans, the Gor Mahia midfielder has voiced his concerns on the continuity use of ‘borrowed’ venues to host Harambee Stars matches saying it was killing the dream of the players in the team.
“As a player it is a negative sign because we always want to play in front of our fans and that is every players’ dream to play in front of their fans and to me I think it is a negative situation,” Odhiambo told Flashscore.
“I strongly believe at some point, maybe sooner, we will be able to play in front of our fans and play our home matches at home because we need that support from our fans, it will help us a lot, it will push us to do our best.
“If you look at our first leg (away in South Sudan), it was the challenge in the away match because, South Sudan had a lot of support, they were pushing their team to deliver and to be honest, the fans played a huge role in the 2-0 defeat.”
Asked on the team's readiness to face South Sudan, Odhiambo, who won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award for the past FKF Premier League season, said: “The players are ready for the match because most of us have played together before, even if it is in the national team or at club level, most of us have played together and this makes us confidence heading into the match, the boys are ready for Sunday.”
Odhiambo is not the only player to have voiced his concerns over the matter of not playing at home. After Kenya played AFCON matches against Burundi and Ivory Coast in Malawi, lead striker and captain Michael Olunga put a notice on the Kenyan government to fast-track renovation works at Kasarani and Nyayo stadiums insisting the team had missed the support of their fans.
“We had the fans, who travelled all the way to support us and those who reside in Malawi, I want to thank them on behalf of the team but in such matches, we don’t need to play away from home, we need to play in Nairobi in front of our fans because football in Africa nowadays you need that home support to qualify,” Olunga told Flashscore in the previous interview.
“I want to urge the government to make sure they renovate the stadium, we have 2025 (AFCON) qualifiers coming up in September, October, and November, those are six important matches that we cannot afford to play away from home and we can perform well if we play at home.”
Olunga, who turns out for Al Duhail in the Qatar Stars League, added: “It is high time the government focused on getting us the stadia ready so that even our fans can get to see us play, it has been a long time since we played a competitive game at home and the fans also want to see their team in action, I insist we have six matches for the AFCON qualifiers coming up and if we want to achieve something, then we must have our stadia ready.”
Firat stays confident of Kenya earning revenge
Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat is confident the team will earn revenge when they face South Sudan for the second time.
“We will do our best to win the game and I am sure we will have a good result from the game. We have a good chance to win the game, at least we have had some training together, not like the first leg, we played even without training together,” Firat told Flashscore.
“I have the feeling on Sunday we will have a better result, I am very confident about my stand.”
Firat would most likely stick with Bandari custodian Bryan Omondi between the sticks while Gor Mahia players Austin Odhiambo, Sylvester Owino, Geoffrey Ochieng and Rooney Onyango will likely be involved.
Revisiting the first-leg defeat, Firat said: “The main difference between us and South Sudan was their aggressiveness, they had more to play for as compared to us.”
Kenya have now lost twice in a row to South Sudan. Before the 2-0 defeat in Juba, Harambee Stars had suffered a 1-0 friendly defeat against the Brights Stars at Kasarani Stadium on September 12th, 2023.
In the previous meetings, Kenya had dominated South Sudan winning the last four matches in all competitions. In 2012, Kenya beat South Sudan 2-0 during the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup tournament and repeated the same feat in 2013 beating them 3-1 in the same competition.
In 2015, they met in a friendly which Kenya won 2-0 At Amahoro Stadium in Rwanda and again beat them 1-0 in another friendly at Nyayo Stadium in 2021.
With the 8th edition of the CHAN tournament being co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, Harambee Stars have already qualified for the tournament, which features players involved in their respective local leagues.
