A night to forget as Harambee Stars suffer heavy loss to Senegal
Harambee Stars' Austine Odiambo (10) vies for the ball with Equatorial Guinea's Iban Salvador as Ovella Ochieng’ (17) and Sylvester Owino (2) watch on during a friendly match at the Emir Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey, last week.
Tuesday evening’s friendly fixture between Harambee Stars and the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations champions, Senegal, at the Titanic Sports Complex stadium in Antalya, Turkey, was far from being a battle of equals.
Stars, ranked 109th, were overpowered by the Lions of Teranga (ranked 18th). The Kenyans suffered their worst defeat since losing 9-0 to Zambia in 1978.
Harambee Stars started ambitiously, but Senegal’s formidable front line swiftly thwarted their attempts to build play from the back. The Stars held out for only eight minutes before the onslaught began.
Bayern Munich forward Nicolas Jackson started it all. He turned Baron Ochieng' inside out before charging into the box to slot Senegal’s first past Brian Bwire.
Wearing red jerseys, Harambee Stars had hit an iceberg in shark-infested waters, and Senegal smelled blood. They attacked again and again until the first half ended with Kenya trailing 6–0.
El Hadji Malick Diouf made it 2–0 in the 11th minute. Jackson doubled his tally in the 14th minute.
Then Sadio Mané, Senegal’s all-time top scorer, sensed an opportunity to speed up his journey to scoring 50 goals for Senegal. He scored an 18-minute hat-trick, with strikes in the 16th and 34th minutes sandwiching a penalty he converted in the 30th minute.
These three goals took Mané’s tally to 48 goals for Senegal. Mane’s second goal came after a rare moment of defiance from Harambee Stars, who almost scored a consolation goal, but Alpha Onyango’s long-range effort sailed narrowly over the bar.
Mane had already claimed the match ball, but Jackson was hungry for his hat-trick too. He had the ball in the net in the 44th minute, but the referee ruled it out for an offside before quickly blowing his whistle for half-time. Harambee Stars had suffered enough, so added time was not necessary.
Stars started the second half with a huddle, but they quickly fell apart again.
Ibrahim Mbaye made it 7-0 in the 47th minute, marking the first time the Lions of Teranga were scoring many goals in a match since a 7-0 win over Mauritius in October 2010.
In the 62nd minute, McCarthy’s assistant, his compatriot Vasili Manousakis, protested a referee’s decision, and he was sent to the stands, where he joined a vocal legion of Kenyan fans who constantly urged the team to score a consolation goal while giving them endearing nicknames like “Brownie”.
In the 73rd minute, Harambee Stars almost heeded the fans’ call, but Ovella Ochieng’ squirmed with the ball at his feet after being set up by Sharif Musa for an easy shot at goal.
Mbaye’s goal was followed by better organisation in defence by Harambee Stars. For the first time in the match, Stars went more than 14 minutes without conceding a goal.
However, Senegal ended that resistance in the 80th minute when Pape Cherif Ndiaye made it 8-0 from the penalty spot.
Still, Senegal wanted more, and the clock wound down with them bombarding Harambee Stars’ goal.
The final whistle put a stop to their avarice and ended a night to forget for Stars.
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