After suprising Ghana Black Stars of Ghana to revive the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations dream, Kenya’s Harambee Stars return to the Moi Stadium Kasarani today(Tuesday) to play Malawi in an international friendly match starting 3 EAT.
Harambee Stars are using the match as a build-up for their back-to-back qualifiers against Ethiopia on October 10 and 14 in Addis Ababa and Nairobi respectively.
Stars remained in camp after the historical 1-0 win over Ghana and head coach Sebastien Migne conducted training sessions on Sunday and yesterday at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies and at Kasarani Stadium respectively. Migne is likely to summon the players who were unused in the Ghana tie.
The Frenchman will, however, miss the services of Gor Mahia right back Philemon Otieno who suffered an ankle injury and consequently sat out of the two training sessions. In his absence, Migne will rely on the experienced Jockins Atudo to man the flank.
Malawi will use the match to redeem themselves from a disappointing North African tour, where they suffered a 3-0 loss to the hosts in a qualifier played at the Mohammed V Stadium.
The Flames, arrived in Nairobi yesterday morning, are ranked 123rd on the global standings—11 places below Stars who sit 112th and are set to scale to a better rank following the victory over the 45th placed Ghana. Statistics for the last ten matches between the two sides lean on Malawi’s side having won four, drawn a similar number of matches and lost twice to Kenya.
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a barren draw at Machakos Stadium last year in April in an international friendly.
Ahead of the match, Stars stand in skipper Musa Mohammed has appealed to fans to turn out in large numbers and rally behind the team.
“The Malawi clash is equally important just like the Ghana tie and we have to approach it with the seriousness it deserves. I call upon the fans to turn up in large numbers and support us just as they did over the weekend against Ghana.”
