MacDonald "The Don" Mariga and Dennis "The Menace" Oliech struck in each half, leading the Harambee Stars to a hard fought 2-0 over Zimbabwe's Warriors in a World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifier played at the Nyayo National Stadium yesterday. Guinea registered an away result, Pascal Feidunuo and Ishamel Bangoura striking in their 2-1 win in Windhoek that handed Kenya the Group 2 leadership with six points from three matches.
Dennis Oliech,scorer of Kenya's second goal in goal after Arnold Origi's injury/COURTESY OF NATION MEDIA GROUP
The 21 year old Mariga, who plays for Italian side Parma, blasted Kenya into the lead with a fierce shot from 25 yards that left Zimbabwe 'keeper Energy Murambadoro clutching the air. The build up to the goal was exciting. Mariga played a short corner with Sweden based midfielder Titus Mulama who threaded the ball back to Mariga who let loose with a rasping shot.
Kenya could have gone 2-0 up in the 19th minute when Oliech played a neat ball to captain Robert "Boban" Mambo who failed to connect. Czech based Patrick Oboya weaved through the Zim defense but Murambadoro blocked his shot.
The Zims gradually came back into the game with Manchester City's Benjani blasting over the bar in the 24th minute. Kenyan 'keeper Arnold Origi, son of former Kenya captain Austin "Makamu" Oduor blocked another Benjani effort a few minutes later. The Zims would continue to threaten but an inspired Kenyan defense continually frustrated their efforts.
Origi would again be a source of inspiration,snuffing out more shots from the Zims. Kenya would lose Mariga in the second half after he sustained a knock but Angola based striker Alan Wanga's inclusion soon covered for Mariga's absence and indeed Wanga went close to scoring.
Kenya came back to life and after sustained attacks, Oliech popped out of nowhere to score Kenya's second in the 88th minute.This was a classic poacher's goal,pouncing on a loose ball spilled by Murambadoro to give Kenya a 2-0 lead.
Then, the valiant Origi who plays for FK Moss of Norway sustained a nasty injury, that was later confirmed as a fracture to his knee cap. Kenya had by this time used up their subs. The 23 year old Oliech moved in to play in goal for the remaining 2 minutes as Kenya held out for a famous win.
MacDonald Mariga,scorer of Kenya's opening goal/COURTESY OF NATION MEDIA GROUP
The Kenyan team will be without sensational midfielder Patrick Oboya when they play the Zims in Harare next weekend after the 20 year old picked up his second yellow card of the campaign yesterday.
The Stars' performance has thrown the script out of the window. The build-up to the start of Africa's 2010 World Cup qualifiers was dominated by talk of how Guinea and Zimbabwe were favourites to win first round's Group Two and proceed to next year's round of five pools of five teams each. Star-studded Guinea, possessing the quality of very many European-based professionals, and Zimbabwe led by English Premiership luminary Benjamin (Benjani) Mwaruwari were expected to steamroll over, especially Namibia, and the "weakest" Group Two team, Kenya.
But what is certain is that in every match in this qualifiers, Kenyan players are literally forcing the world to pay attention. Oliech and Mariga, for instance overshadowed the Guinean stars last week and this time did the same to Zimbabweans especially the much touted Mwaruwari. Their maturity and leadership has rubbed off on the team and we can only hope that things will get better.
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Origi out for six weeks
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