By Dennis Mabuka
After winning their TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) opener against Burkina Faso, the Kenya national team, Harambee Stars, will return to action with a tricky assignment against Angola at Kasarani Stadium on Wednesday.
Harambee Stars, under South African legend Benni McCarthy, got off to a flying start after defeating two-time CHAN champions DR Congo 1-0 in the Group A opener.
Gor Mahia midfielder Austin Odhiambo scored what turned out to be the winner at the stroke of half-time.
While Kenya will seek to build on their historic debut win, Angola will look to recover from an opening 2-0 defeat against Morocco. Both teams will meet for the first time in CHAN, with Angola’s only previous game against a CHAN host ending in a 1-1 draw against Sudan in the 2011 semi-finals, which they won 4-2 on penalties.
A win against Angola will increase Kenya’s chances of making it out of the group, which also includes Morocco, Zambia, and DR Congo. While Kenya will battle Angola, DR Congo will come up against Zambia at Nyayo Stadium.
Angola’s physical side with speed wingers
Former Gor Mahia coach Bob Oyugi has cautioned Kenya to trade carefully against Angola, who will be seeking to bounce back after losing to Morocco.
According to Oyugi, who won the Kenyan Premier League title with Gor Mahia in 1998, coach McCarthy should be wary of Angola’s towering strikers and their speed wingers.
“Kenya only needs to win the second game and cross the first bridge. However, both full backs must be on high alert, especially our right full back, and a solid central defence, consistent midfield, dynamic central attacks, and swift wingers,” said Oyugi.
“Generally, we use our defenders as a springboard to attack, but we must be very careful because Angola is a very physical side, with amazing speedy wingers, and we need to make sure that we stop them from delivering those crosses from the wings because that is where they are very dangerous.”
Oyugi added: “I watched their game against Morocco, though they lost 2-0. They created better chances using their wingers. The Angolans are dangerous in crosses; they usually take advantage of their height to score.
“I am hoping that McCarthy and his team will be prepared to stop them. They almost scored twice against Morocco. They are the kind of team that wants to build their game through the very dangerous wingers. I only trust that the coach knows about this (their style of play).”
For Angola, they will be taking on a tournament debutant for the sixth time, with their record in those previous five matches standing at one win, three draws (two of which led to penalty shoot-out victories), and one defeat.
The only win in regular time came against Rwanda in 2011, while the sole defeat was in the final of that edition against Tunisia.
“It will be important for Kenya to win this game, just like the first game, because a win will put them in a good position in the group. However, remember Angola also want to qualify and they want a win to revive their hopes. So I feel if Kenya sticks with their game plan, they will get a positive result,” offered Oyugi.
Kenya will be aiming to become the first debutant since Madagascar (2022) to win their first two CHAN matches.
Madagascar beat Ghana (2-1) and Sudan (3–0), and were awarded a forfeit win over Morocco.
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