Ten-man Harambee Stars revive AFCON hopes after humiliating Ghana’s Black Stars with a 1-0 win

Kenya’s National Football team Harambee Stars on Saturday beat Ghana’s Black Stars 1-0 to register its first win in Group F at the Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium.

The own goal by the defender Nicholas Opoku at 39th-minute put Kenya ahead thus beating the group’s favourites.

Earlier on, Kenya had the first sight of a goal four minutes into the match when Ovella Ochieng broke free from the right and put through a shot to Ghanaian goalkeeper Richard Ofori.

The Ten-man squad held their nerves to edge the  Black Stars reigniting their quest for a ticket to the 2019 continental showpiece.

Thanks to the pressure from Stars danger-man Michael ‘Engineer’ Olunga who saw the defenders hit the ball in their own net.

Stars were however reduced to 10 men at the hour mark after Joash Onyango was red-carded for a foul on Ghana’s forward at the edge of the box, when the referee adjudged him to have denied the opposition a goal scoring opportunity.

In a knife-edge game that gave thousands of fans their fair share of the thrill, defender Philemon Otieno was withdrawn at half-time having picked an injury and in his place came the veteran no nonsense defender Joackins Atudo.

The win now awarded  Kenya’s points tally to 3, same as Ghana who blanked Ethiopia 4-0 in their group opening game.

In June last year, Kenya had succumbed to a  2-1 shock loss to lowly rated Sierra Leone in their opener.

www.the-star.co.ke

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