Owino, Lavatsa in action as Kenya hold Nigeria
Kenya were unlucky to concede a late goal to Nigeria after taking a first half lead. The Kenya goal came from Francis Kahata. The Thika United midfielder scored with a sublime freekick which he curved around the Nigeria wall past the outstretched hands of Victor Enyeama in the Nigeria goal.
Versatile Gor Mahia player David Owino “Jashirati” was deployed at right back and had the arduous task of marking Victor Moses who plays for Chelsea in the English premier league. And Moses was handful with his mazy runs down the left flank. Late in the first half he looked certain to score only to be foiled by the outstretched leg of Owino. The second half was no different as Moses continued to look for gaps in the Kenya rearguard. Owino acquited himself well considering that he was going against an EPL player. He was the busiest of the Kenya players and worked his tail end off. He will have earned valuable experience.
Kenya hung tough throughout the game fending off wave after wave of Nigerian attacks. In truth , though, Kenya did not look dangerous going forward. They created one real chance in the second half when Dennis Oliech released Francis Kahata. With only the keeper to beat, Kahata slipped and sliced his shot off target.
Edwin Lavatsa was introduced late in the second half. It was an inexplicable substitution given that Kenya needed to add more steel to their defence. Lavatsa had a chance to take on the Nigerians with his blistering pace but instead played the ball backwards perhaps in caution.
Arnold Origi, son of Kogalo legend Austin Oduor Origi , once again had an oustanding game in goal. Calm confident and able to marshall the defence.
Kenya was able to string passes together for periods. However they did not create much offense going forward. Oliech who was Kenya’s lone striker hardly received any decent balls. Amrouche will need to work on getting the ball forward.
Nevertheless, Adel Amrouche appears to have instilled a sense of determination in Harambee stars which bodes well for the future.
I don’t really mind Kenya missing out in the World cup. My greatest desire is to see Kenya felling big-mouthed Nigeria. It is heartbreaking that we always come so close to humbling them only for them to survive. Jugding by the way they treated our boys one would clearly see a team that is so desperate for a win that they would not stop at anything to secure a win. It is unfortunate that those Boko Haram tactics did not intimidate our team at all. Besides, they just gave me and many other Kenyans one more reason to be endeared to the Indomitable Lions even more. Finally we have proved that Nigeria is beatable and come June we shall rest our case. Otherwise kudos to David Owino for a sterling performance. I fear his performance may make Victor Moses hate football.
I’ve always known that David owino was the right player to keep Victor Moses in check.He is one player who will not let the striker have an easy time to execute a cross.I hope that Logarosic have now seen that Owino is the best defender he needs in Gor defence full time bcos he has full concentration during play.I also think that we have now the right National team Coach Adel Amrouche that knows how to motivate his players and make them believe in themselves and take on Nigeria just like any ordinary team
Conceding that late goal spoiled my evening. But I give full credit to ma players. Even with a weakened team without Mariga, Mieno, Atudo, etc they held Naija. Next game Amrouche should strongly consider inviting Oboya, Osiako and Akumu.
Good job boys
Congrats boys but the modern game is very physical. Did anyone see how our players e.g. Kahata and Gateri were being bulldozed off the ball and the ref waving play on. That’s the modern game for you. Now we can tell why our talented players cannot make it in the pro leagues. Oliech, Mariga and Mugabe had to go through the Scandinavian countries to built their mass before going to the mainstream Europe leagues. We must now start having the right diet for our players. Our defence was compact because of their physique and that helped us while Oliech was lonely upfront and no meaningfull support from the midfiels
One thing I mentioned before the match and I will repeat – I clearly indicated that we should attack from the first to final minute since you can never score against Nigeria on counter-attack as their defense are very alert to allow such. Ok, we managed to attack but for the final 10 mins Harambee stars went to defend and you saw the result! When they defended, they narrowed the gap between the goal-keeper and the opponents and just a small misconcentration cost us the 3 points.
We were already ahead so instead of defending the players could have wasted time by either falling or something but this ought to have happened anywhere in the mid-field but not near our goal. This final show showed lack of experience on our side. Anyway that was an excellent and unexpected performance. We need Kiongera to partner with Oliech in a reverse fixture. Somehow even though Kahata scored, he was too slow whenever he got the ball and Gateri did not impress. Peter Opiyo was good when he came off the bench so he ought to have started in the mid-field or he could have played behind the strikers; a role Jamal was supposed to play but did not do
@ 1 Barefoot Bandit – Nigeria has been a hard nut to crack and I don’t know why every time we are pooled together in the same group with Nigeria. This is same as continental club’s matches/fixtures where Kenyan clubs find themselves year-in-year-out pooled with Egyptian’s clubs. This is a hurdle we must overcome and I can see the future is very bright.
@ 2 michael odhiambo – at least we have seen David Owino can easily gel together with David Cheche, Brian Mandela. But Atudo was conspicuosly missing. Mulinge tried but he cannot outmatch Atudo. Remember Nigeria got their equalizer through this wing of Mulinge Ndeto.
@3 Joe Riaga – it is true; that goal ‘finished me’
@5 Dan – I echo your sentiments