Stars sink Congo to give Okumbi first win

Stanley Okumbi enjoyed his first victory with Harambee Stars as Kenya eliminated Congo Brazzaville from the 2017 Afcon finals with a 2-1 win in Nairobi on Sunday.

Prince Oniague put the Congolese ahead in the 17th minute from the spot when Ismail Gonzalez was adjudged to have committed a foul in the box.

But brilliant goals from Ayub Timbe and Eric Johanna either side of the break won Okumbi respite as already eliminated Kenya moved to four points in Group E and ended their visitor’s hopes of topping the pool.

Timbe struck the leveller in the 28th minute when he thundered in a shot from the right after being put through by a long punt from keeper Boniface Oluoch.

The winner came in the 67th when captain Victor Wanyama lofted a great pass over for Johanna to race on to and lob the keeper expertly to bring the sparse crowd at Safaricom Stadium to their feet.

“The win is for all of us, its not about me. The players showed determination from the word go and it paid. The win is very important because of the FIFA ranking,” said the relieved coach after the tie.

“The morale was good and everyone knew what we wanted. The new players in the team (Eric ‘Marcelo’ Ouma and Ismail Gonzalez) showed a lot of maturity, you couldn’t realize they were new in the team,” elated captain Victor Wanyama told journalists after the match.

Pierre Lechantre, Congo’s coach, decried laxity and failure to follow instruction as the main reason his team lost.

“Kenya has good players who kept on fighting hard. I told my players to play fast football but they kept on delaying their passes. It’s over because Guinea Bissau have ten points which we cannot hit even if we win the last match.”

Musa Otieno, first assistant coach of Stars is optimistic Kenya can build up from the win going forward.

“With time the team has picked momentum. We just need to support each other and the future can only be brighter.”

The first chance of the game fell to Djugadern IF Striker Michael Olunga who failed to latch onto Wanyama’s pass in the 5th and Congo defender cleared the ball for a corner.

Congo then got their opportunity to open the scoring when Gonzalez was adjudged to have used his elbow in the danger zone and the Ghanaian referee pointed to the spot.

Skipper Oniangue calmly converted the resultant penalty to give Le Diables Rouges a 1-0 lead, sending Onyango the wrong way.

Timbe leveled the match after the Belgian based winger left the Congo defence for dead and beautifully slotted the ball past Christopher Matoumbi to make it 1-1.

It was a cagey affair in the final minutes of the first half with the 1972 AFCON winners coming close in the 38th when Espanyol Midfielder Thievy Bifouma’s floated ball found Ferebory Dore but his effort hit the crossbar.

Both coaches decided to reinforce their teams after the restart with Okumbi bringing on Anthony ‘Teddy’ Akumu for Gonzalez while Lechantre exchanged Francis N’gaga and Arnold Motou.

Johanna put Stars in front after connecting with Wanyama’s delightful pass and effortlessly lobbing it past the Congo custodian to make it 2-1.

Stars made their final changes of the game bringing in Ali Abondo and Paul Were to revitalize the midfield.

Timbe had a chance to make it 3-1 in the dying minutes of the game but his venomous shot veered off target much to the dismay of the home fans who were singing in the stands.

The Red Devils tirelessly laboured for an equalizer late on but the center referee ended the match to give the Stars their first win in the qualifiers.

The result saw Guinea Bissau who on Saturday defeated Zambia 3-2 qualify for a first Nations Cup final in their history.

Report by Eric Kagunda and Jacob Icia