2013 CECAFA group stage: Kenya vs Ethiopia

Coach Adel Amrouche boycotted the first game of the 2013 CECAFA cup top protest non-payment of his salaries for four months.

Amrouche’s absence may have affect the Harambee stars as they played poorly and were held to a scoreless draw.

The home side started the match on a high note with Allan Wanga coming close to giving them the lead in the third minute after being put through by his striking partner Edwin Lavatsa, but Wanga’s feeble shot at the Ethiopia goal narrowly missed the target.

The Ethiopians, who fielded an entirely new outfit to the one that lost to Nigeria in the World Cup play-offs, twice raided the Kenyan goalmouth in the opening half hour but were denied by the experienced hands of the Kenyan goalkeeper Duncan Ochieng.

Ochieng first halted Gebremichael Yakob’s header in the 30th minute and, nine minutes later, he went full stretch to punch out a dangerous shot from Ethiopian skipper Fasika Asfew.

Kenyan assistant coach James Nandwa said he was disappointed with the result but promised to make amends in the next match against South Sudan on Saturday.

2013 CECAFA group stage: Kenya vs South Sudan

Coach Adel Amrouche made his first appearance at this tournament after having boycotted the first game.

Kenya outplayed South Sudan and missed several open chances. Jockins Atudo scored the match opener from the penalty spot after a South Sudan player handled the ball. The South Sudanese equalized in the second half with a brilliantly taken free-kick.

Kenya footballer of the year Jacob Keli scored the second goal with a superb header. The third goal came via David Owino whose brilliant solo run on the left flank ended with a similarly brilliant finish. Kenya won 3-1.

2013 CECAFA cup group stage: Kenya vs Zanzibar

A goal in each half by Azam Football Club defender, Jockins Atudo and the day’s captain, Allan Wanga at the Afraha Stadium in Nakuru have helped the hosts, Kenya overcome a hard fighting Zanzibar to seal a quarterfinal slot alongside, the leaders, Ethiopia.

Azam based defender Jockins Atudo opened the score sheet with a well converted penalty as early as the 5th minute of the game after Francis Kahata was brought down in the penalty box for Kenya to take a half-time lead.

Referee, Wiish Yarbrow from Somalia made no mistake to award Kenya who had been dominant in the opening 45 minutes, a penalty after defender, Seif Rashid brought down live-wire forward, Francis Kahata.

Atudo, who netted and missed a penalty in Kenya’s 3 -1 win over South Sudan, this time calmly hit the roof of the net with a well struck effort to get his second goal in this tournament.

The day’s skipper, Allan Wanga, paid coach Adel Amrouche’s faith in him with that beautiful strike 13 minutes after the second half re-start after a clever back heel pass from Jacob Keli, who also scooped the man of the match award. Keli won a DSTV decoder courtesy of the tournament sponsors, GOtv.

The Harambee stars have now hit that jack pot promised by the Nakuru Governor of Ksh 1,000,000 and will have to wait for a coin toss to determine the group leader after tying with Ethiopia on almost every thing, 7 points and goal difference.

Zanzibar Heroes’ coach, Salum Baus Nassor has castigated the poor standard of the day’s center referee and attributed his ‘poor’ standards for the unfortunate loss. His Counterpart, Adel Amrouche applauded the fans that turned up at the Nakuru stadium to cheer the team. “I must tell you, today it has been been Nakuru 2 and Zanzibar nil”, the Belgian born remarked shortly after the game

2013 CECAFA Quarter-Finals Kenya vs Rwanda

Kenya took on Rwanda in the quarter final match played at the Mombasa Municipal stadium.

Kenya played poorly in the first half as the Rwandese thoroughly and uttely dominated possesion. Luckily for Kenya, the defence of Jockins Atudo, Aboud Omar, David Owino and James Situma was rock solid.

The all important came via the penalty spot. Michel Rusheshangoga handled the ball in the penalty box and Jockins Atudo made no mistake with the resulting penalty to give Kenya a 1-0 win.

2013 CECAFA Semi Finals Kenya Vs Tanzania

Kenya’s Harambee stars met with Tanzania Mainland’s Kilimanjaro stars. The match was initially scheduled for the newly re-constructed Kenyatta stadium in Machakos but a torrential downpour rendered the field unplayable. The match was thus moved to Nyayo stadium, 45km away.

The only goal of the match came in the 5th minute. Defensive midfielder Anthony Akumu fired a long range shot which was parried by Ivo Mapunda in the Tanzania goal. Clifford Miheso was quickest to the rebound which he slammed home for the winner.

For the rest of the match Kenya were content to soak up pressure from the Tanzanians while hoping for a counter attack. The game ended 1-0 in Kenya’s favour.

Kenya vs Sudan 2013 CECAFA cup final

The final match was played on Dec 12, the day when Kenya celebrated its 50th anniversary. The pitch was drenched due to a torrential downpour hours before the match started. Sudan had up to this point looked like the best team in the tournament and had eliminated Zambia in the semis and Ethiopia in the quarter final.

The soggy condistions however did not deter Harambee stars who played brilliant football that pretty much left Sudan for dead as the latter had no answer. Kenya knocked the ball around confidently and created several chances. Both goals came via Allan Wanga. The first one came when Clifford Miheso and Aboud Omar combined well on the left flanking leaving Omar to send a cross which Wanga headed home. The second goal came from a low cross James Situma which Wanga converted. Kenya won 2-0