Kenya opened their campaign in the Mauritius Four-Nation Tournament with a slim 1-0 win over Pakistan in a game played at Cóte d’Or National Complex, Port Louis on Wednesday.
Despite dominating play from start to finish, the Harambee Stars were profligate before goal, and also lacked creativity.
New call-up Moses Shumah of Kakamega Homeboyz FC scored the lone goal, his first in the national colors in the 17th minute to save Stars the blushes.
Stars camped in the opponent’s half from the blow of the whistle as they went for early goals. Defender David “Cheche” Ochieng saw his effort from a corner kick sail over the bar with the net begging.
On the other end, the Pakistan Falcons had their moment from a corner kick in the 12th minute that did not yield anything meaningful.
Shumah, who boasts four goals and one assist for Homeboyz in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) broke the deadlock, rounding Pakistan goalkeeper Yousaf Butt before firing home.
Shumah could have grabbed a brace but was late to connect Sakari Daniel’s inviting cross with defenders beaten on the 34th minute of the game.
Pakistan’s notable effort of the half came from Sufyan Mohammed’s cross in the 38th minute which skipper Bashir Hassan skewed.
Sufyan was earlier booked for a deliberate elbow on Amos Nondi. The game settled for a 1-0 lead at the breather.
The second stanza saw the South Asian side possess the ball hence frustrating Stars.
To soar up numbers in attack, coach Engin Firat pulled out Sakari for more offensive Clifton Miheso in the 63rd minute.
Daniel Anyembe was also introduced in the 74th minute for the goal scorer Shumah, but still nothing yielded.
Skipper Michael Olunga played largely off his usual number nine position and did not threaten much apart from forcing Butt to a fingertip save in the 74th minute.
Kenya, who missed their opening game against Djibouti on Sunday will next face hosts Mauritius on Sunday.
Pakistan have now lost twice, having gone down 3-0 to Mauritius on Sunday.
Pakistan Starting XI; Yousaf Butt (GK), Mamoon Musa, Easah Suliman, Abdullah Iqbal, Ali Khan, Mohammed Sufyan, Rahis Nabhi, Ali Uzair, Haroon Hamid, Otis Khan, Hassan Bashir
Subs: Saqib, Waheed, Omer, Haseeb, Abdullah, Alamgir, Salman, Saman, Adnan.
Kenya XI; Byrne Omondi (GK), Amos Nondi, Abud Omar, Daniel Sakari, David Ochieng, Collins Shichenje, Anthony Akumu, Richard Odada, Michael Olunga, Moses Shumah
Subs: Ian, Bwire, Otiala, Kamura, Omala, Ouma, Mwangi, Anyembe, Abdallah, Miheso, Omune, Boniface, Ouma
