Harambee Stars under head coach Engin Firat (54) kicked off their campaign with a drab 0-0 home draw against Zimbabwe at the Stade Nelson Mandela Stadium in Kampala on Friday, September 6th.
On the other hand, the Brave Warriors launched their quest to qualify for the 35th edition of the African tournament to be held in Morocco with a 1-0 defeat against Cameroon at Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua, Cameroon on Saturday, September 7th.
When is the match?
The matchday two fixture will be played on Tuesday, September 10th, at Orlando Stadium in South Africa.
Just like Kenya, Namibia do not have a Confederation of African Football (CAF) or world governing body FIFA approved stadium to host their home matches, hence the move to play in South Africa.
Kenya and Namibia have already arrived in Johannesburg ahead of the fixture.
Where can you watch the game on TV?
The fixture will kick off at 18:00 (local time in South Africa), and 19:00 (local time in Kenya), and will be broadcast live on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
Match preview
The matchday two contest provides an opportunity for either Harambee Stars or the Brave Warriors to win their first match of the campaign. Kenya coach Firat is already under pressure after his fielding was questioned by a number of Kenyans following the Zimbabwe stalemate.
In the absence of injured lead striker and captain Michael Olunga (30), who features for Al Duhail SC in the Qatar Stars League, Firat fielded two players in the attacking role - midfielders Duke Abuya (30), and Eric Johana (30) - in the process leaving out strikers Jonah Ayunga (27), Benson Omalla (22) and John Avire (27). Only Avire finally got a test of the game after he came on in the 68th minute for Johana.
Former Harambee Stars coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee was among those who believed Firat’s failure to start an outright striker had denied Kenya a win against the Warriors.
“I don’t know the reason why we were not brave enough to pick a striker in the game. That was clearly missing. We didn’t have a predator, someone hungry. It is Firat’s tactics and I don’t want to go into it,” Mulee, who was replaced by Firat as the head coach of Kenya in 2021, told reporters at the sidelines of a Football Kenya Federation (FKF) meeting in Nairobi.
“I don’t think we were going to score at any point. We didn’t have a bite in front of the goal and that was our major undoing. I saw Duke (Abuya) playing there and when you look at him from Young Africans (Yanga SC), he knows he plays coming from behind. When you make him be the one facing the goal first it becomes difficult.”
Firat will have to put more focus on the striking force which was the main undoing against the Warriors. With Olunga set to miss his second straight game owing to an injury, the Turkish tactician will have to deploy an outright striker for the Brave Warriors game.
Ayunga, who plays for St. Mirren in the Scottish Premiership could get his debut and play alongside Omalla, who was the FKF Premier League top scorer for last season after banging in 19 goals for reigning champions Gor Mahia.
The striking changes could help push Harambee Stars to go for goals, something that was lacking against Zimbabwe, where they only managed two shots on target.
Against Zimbabwe, Firat opted to start Bandari goalkeeper Bryne Omondi (27) and dropped Patrick Matasi (36) of Kenya Police to the bench. Omondi looked unstable in the game and twice could have cost Kenya to concede.
Matasi will need to regain his position because he has the experience to play at the top level while in the defence, Firat could stick with the one that did duty against the Warriors, Gor Mahia’s duo of Alphonse Ominja (21), Sylvester Owino (23), Reims defender Joseph Okumu (27) and Eric ‘Marcelo’ Ouma (27) guarding Matasi.
After the draw in Kampala, Firat remained positive that Kenya would still qualify for the AFCON. “I have no issue with the result of the game, I know nothing changes in our quest to qualify for the AFCON, the dream is still on and we will make sure we achieve it at the end of the group matches,” Firat told Flashscore.
“We wanted a strong start, my players did everything we wanted to do, things worked well in many areas but the aggressiveness was the only thing missing.”
Firat should, however, be wary of a Namibian side, who pushed Cameroon to the limit before conceding in the 65th minute courtesy of a Vincent Aboubakar effort. Striker Peter Shalulile (30), who plays for Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions Mamelodi Sundowns, was superb against the Indomitable Lions and should be the player Kenyan defenders must keep an eye on.
Other key players in the Namibia squad, who are coached by Collin Benjamin (46), include Orlando Pirates midfielder Deon Hotto (33) and goalkeeper Edward Maova, who features for Golden Arrows in South Africa (30).
Head-to-head record
In the last four matches between the two sides in all competitions, Kenya have managed two wins against the Brave Warriors and suffered two defeats. In 2008, the two sides faced off in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier, Namibia winning the first meeting fixture 2-1 in Windhoek.
During the reverse fixture, Kenya avenged losing away after they beat the Brave Warriors 1-0 courtesy of a Jamal Mohammed goal from the penalty spot. In 2012, the two sides were paired again in the World Cup qualifiers and Namibia won the first-round meeting 1-0.
Kenya returned home to win 1-0 via a David ‘Calabar’ Owino effort and finish their Group F qualifiers with six points. Nigeria won the group with 12 points, Malawi came second with seven while Namibia finished bottom with five.
Follow the AFCON qualifiers here.
