The inquest into another subdued performance from Kenya's national football team continued Monday after the fancied hosts managed only a 1-0 win over tiny Comoros in their 2015 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) preliminary round first leg tie in Nairobi on Sunday.

Belgium-based Johanna Omolo's 34th minute rocket settled the tie that gave hosts Harambee Stars the slim advantage to take to the islanders for the return leg in a fortnight.

Both sides are vying for the right to face either Liberia or Lesotho in the next round with their preliminary also ending 1-0 in favour of the former with a place in Group C of the final qualifiers featuring Burkina Faso, Angola and Gabon awaiting the winner of the knock-out second round clash.

Despite enjoying victory, home fans that filled Nairobi's Nyayo National Stadium left with laden feet after watching their team, ranked a massive 76 places on the FIFA rankings ahead of 184th placed Comoros huff and puff to break the resolute islanders.

Belgian head coach, Adel Amrouche, with nine foreign based players including English Premier League star, Victor Wanyama and his Inter Milan midfielder elder brother, MacDonald Mariaga in his side, opted to set up the team in a defensive 4-5-1 formation that choked his side much to the dismay of home fans.

It did not help their cause that their record scorer and most dependable forward, France based AJ Ajaccio striker, Dennis Oliech, had an off day in front of goal, spurning two guilt edged chances, tumbling to claim a penalty that was waved away for the second.

"I'm happy with the win because some of my players like Lawrence Olum and Jamal Mohammed arrived on Saturday and they had little time to train with the team. We hope to score more goals in the return leg for us to progress to the next round," Amrouche stated after the game.

The country that prides itself as a regional football giant in East Africa has not graced the Afcon finals since 2004 when they bowed out at the group stage in Tunisia but succeeded in winning their first game when they beat Burkina Faso 3-1 in an academic match since they all tumbled out. Endite

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)