Harambee Stars Fail to Make Chances Pay as Equatorial Guinea Claim Friendly Victory in Turkey

Kenya’s Harambee Stars huffed and puffed but could not make their chances count, as a Josete Miranda penalty just before the break was enough to give them the win in a friendly match held in Turkey on Friday afternoon.

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After Equatorial Guinea dominated possession for large parts of the opening 15 minutes, Kenya started to get their groove,mostly through enforcing transitional situations.

Jonah Ayunga would create Kenya’s first big chance when he forced a turnover of possession after pressing high, before shooting the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

Moments later, he would generate another chance, and he thought he had netted Harambee Stars’ first after lobbing over the goalkeeper to find the back of the net, but the referee flagged him for offside.

In the 27th minute, debutant Kevin Otiende exchanged the ball neatly with Boniface Muchiri from another counter attacking situation, but he fluffed his lines by hitting the ball wide.

Kenya would create another opportunity in the 29th minute when Ayunga got on the end of a good long pass from the back by Sylvester Owino before finding himself one on one with the keeper, but agonisingly missed the chance to put the team in front after hitting it straight at the goalkeeper, who parried it wide with a great reflex action.

Kenya continued enjoying their spell of dominance, and in the 40th minute, should have capitalised on another opportunity when, after a nice piece of intricate build up involving the effervescent Ayunga, Ryan Ogam and Boniface Muchiri, the latter found himself with an opportunity to put them into the lead, but missed the target.

Moments, later, Kenya would be made to pay for their profligacy when Rooney Onyango gave away a penalty after tripping Equatorial Guinea’s Josete Miranda, who would convert the resulting spotkick excellently to give them the lead heading into the break

Kenya started fairly slowly in the second half, and nearly went two down when Michael Kibwage was forced to clear Pablo Garnet’s shot off the line after Byrne Omondi failed to stop it.

For the next 15 minutes afterwards, the game was marked by a series of fouls, especially involving Kenya’s William Lenkupae, which prevented it from finding any sort of rhythm.

This prompted Benni McCarthy to make his first changes of the night, bringing on Austin Odhiambo and Ovella Ochieng for Lenkupae and Muchiri as he sought to find an equaliser.

He would also sub on Alphonce Omija and Sharrif Musa for Kibwage and Ogam -who had been ineffective for large parts of the game - 10 minutes later.

Odhiambo would miss a glorious chance to restore parity when, after managing to bypass Equatorial Guinea’s press, the ball fell to Ronney Onyango, who raced with the ball toward the byline before unleashing a cutback which the Gor Mahia man met first time, but blazed it over the bar.

Despite also subbing on Aldrine Kibet for his debut as McCarthy sought to make their chances count, they still could not find a breakthrough and in the end, the West African nation emerged victorious.

Kenya will be hoping for a better result when they take on Senegal on Tuesday.