Guinea Bissau produced a double over Kenya beating them by a similar 1-0 scoreline in Nairobi on Sunday 2017.

The visitors largely “packed the bus” choosing to venture forward sparingly, a strategy they executed to near perfection.

In the 83rd minute Guinea Bissau took the lead through contestable goal which lead to crowd trouble.

At first the goal appeared to have not crossed the line but video replays showed otherwise.

The   “controversial” goal scored by Sanches Semedo in the 83rd minute condemned  Harambee Stars out of  the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier after losing with a  solitary goal to visiting Guinea Bisau  at the Nyayo National Stadium.

The  match was however marked with several stoppages  forcing the security personnel to throw  several  tear gas canisters  to allow the match to resume.

Matchwise, it was a match that the home team deserve to win ,atleast by three goals. The hosts enjoyed the lion’s share of possession throughout the opening half, creating a couple of scoring opportunities.

James Situma  had a shot off target from just outside the box in the 6th minute while captain Victor Wanyama  has a sniff of the goal in the 15th  minute when his  thunderous  shot went few inches wide  with
Guinea Bissau Keeper Jonas Mendez beaten.

Stars continued to keep the ball while trying to price open their opponents defence in the first half but with the visitors committing many players behind the ball, the Kenyans found it hard to penetrate the goal area.

Dennis Odhiambo’s long drive in the 25th minute missed the target by a few inches while Olunga’s attempt in the 28th minute after rounding three  defenders  went out of target with fans  yelling for a goal.

Sensing danger , the visitors resorted to packing  their back  and time wasting that saw  Goalkeeper (Jonas Mendez) receive his first booking.

The tide changed in the second half where the visitors came from the tunnel a rejuvenated side.Twice in the 75 and 78th minute, Harambee Stars goal survived narrowly with Piqueto Silva  header hitting the crossbar with  Kenya Goalkeeper beaten  while Idrissa Camara had his   goal-bound shot saved off the line by Dennis
Odhiambo.

The West Africans take charge of Group E with seven points as Congo and Zambia who drew 1-1 are second and third with 6 points apiece while Kenya are last with 1 point.

Bonface Osano

African Football Writer contributing @Soka25east | Commentator; appeared on @MySoccerAfrica, @KweseSports, @ntvkenya, others | Keen follower of African Football. E-mail: bonfaceosano@gmail.com