Harambee Stars played to a barren draw against North African side Libya in the Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) Senior Challenge Cup played this evening at Machakos Stadium in a pool A second match.
The national team dropped points in a goalles draw against invitees but still maintained their lead in Group A with four points after two matches followed by Zanzibar second with three.
Stars head coach Paul Put made only one change from his team that won 2-0 against Rwanda on the opening day, bringing in Mathare United top scorer Chris Oduor in place of Sammy Onyango who missed the match entirely.
Libya almost grabbed the opener in the ninth minute when Tubal Moahmed broke away on the right after evading Musa Mohammed’s tackle, gliding into the box to face Patrick Matasi one on one.
However, the Kenyan shot stopper played the role of keeper-sweeper, swiftly coming off his line to slide in and sweep the ball away for a throw-in.
Stars had a similar chance two minutes later when Oduor sent George Odhiambo through on goal from the left, but the Gor Mahia winger could not hit the net, Libya keeper Azzaqah Ahmed managing to keep the ball away with his feet.
The host side lacked the punch and pace on the wings they had against Rwanda in Kakamega, probably due to the absence of Onyango who was gassing up either wing over the weekend. Oduor and Whyvonne Isuza who were interchanging on the right failed to punch in the needed pace.
At the start of the second half, Masoud who seemed to have picked up ankle injury in the first half was hauled off for Kepha Aswani. The Kariobangi Sharks forward was rushed to hospital immediately.
Stars kept their feet upfront in search of an opening and five minutes after the restart, Jockins Atudo saw his freekick saved by the keeper with the rebound cleared by the defense.
Put made his second change, bringing on Ovella Ochieng for Chris Oduor after 65 minutes, looking to punch up the pace on the wings.
But it was Libya who almost grabbed the headline with Moahmed’s volley from the right after Faisal’s freekick was nodded down going wide from the right.
In another pool A match, Zanzibar won 3-1 against Rwanda in the first match of the pool A at the same venue.
Led by former Harambee Stars coach Antoine Hey, Rwanda registered their second loss in the tournament.
Muhadjiri Hakizimana netted the opener on 47th minute to cancel out Mudathir Yahya’s first half goal for Zanzibar, but a defensive lapse saw Issa Juma score the second six minutes later while Khamis Suleiman struck the winner with four minutes left.