Vanquished Harambee Stars to host Rwanda

What you need to know:

  • Kenya recently plunged 14 places down the Fifa rankings to position 102, 16 places above Rwanda, who sit 31st on the continent. Stars 25th in Africa.
  • Rwanda are coached by former Harambee Stars tactician German Antoine Hey.

Even before the dust settles following a spate of attacks on the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) after a series of poor results registered by the national football team, the governing body has confirmed Kenya will host Rwanda in a friendly match next month.

With the next official Fifa calendar set for November 6-14, FKF have requested the Federation of Rwanda Football Association (FERWAFA) for the match which will be staged in Kenya on November 11.

“We received the request but we will reply after consulting our technical team on the availability of the team as part of our preparations for Cecafa,” FERWAFA media chief Bonnie Mugabe told Nation Sport on Wednesday.

FKF Communications Officer boss Barry Otieno confirmed the development saying: “The match is on 11th of next month at a yet to be confirmed venue because of the ongoing renovations in most stadiums.”

Kenya recently plunged 14 places down the Fifa rankings to position 102, 16 places above Rwanda, who sit 31st on the continent. Stars 25th in Africa.

OKUMBI UNDER PRESSURE

Under-fire Harambee Stars coach Stanley Okumbi will be hoping to redeem himself after successive defeats to Iraq and minnows Thailand earlier this month.

The losses were widely criticised by fans, former players and coaches who have been calling for the resignation of the coach.

Rwanda are coached by former Harambee Stars tactician German Antoine Hey.

This will be the 13th friendly match for Harambee Stars and the 18th overall assignment for the Okumbi-led bench that took over from Scotsman Bobby Williamson on February 20, 2016.

Okumbi’s Stars have won once and drawn one competitive match, a 2-1 win against Congo Brazzaville in Nairobi and 1-1 away to Zambia in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.

Kenya lost to Guinea Bissau twice in the 2017 Cup of Nations qualifiers and recently 2-1 to lowly Sierra Leone in the first round qualifiers of the 2019 Nations Cup.

Kenya’s next assignment is the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) scheduled for Nairobi from November 25 to December 6.