Beneath Kasarani’s floodlit dome, where every roar shook the
steel and sky, ten-man Harambee Stars refused to bow to fate, wrestling a 1-1
draw from Angola’s grip in a CHAN 2024 thriller on Thursday night.
It was a night where grit met grace, and head coach Benni
McCarthy urged his warriors to “slay the fear” haunting their first halves.
Ten minutes in, Kenya were a goal down.
Soon after, they were a man down. But they didn’t fall.
They
stood up, chest out, eyes forward, roaring back through Austin Odhiambo’s
penalty in the 12th minute and holding their nerve against wave after wave of
Angolan pressure.
But McCarthy’s message was clear.
“These players can
play. They are really good. But my God, they need to get over this fear factor
for 45 minutes. It’s stressful, man.”
The match, highly anticipated in a group dubbed the
"Group of Grit," saw Kenya come in off the high of an opening win.
The stadium, a cathedral of noise, was a sea of red, white, and
green, 46,520 strong.
But the joy was sucked out early when Angola’s J. Paciência
broke through in the sixth minute, punishing Kenya for a lapse in marking.
Yet the response was swift and spirited. Austin Odhiambo
stepped up with cold blood in his veins, converting from the spot and silencing
any doubts.
From there, the match took a twist as Kenya were reduced to
10 men. What followed was a 70-minute siege—and survival.
McCarthy admitted:
“Hell yeah, the
emotions... From the moment we went down to 10, my brain was constantly
ticking. I couldn’t sit. I said, ‘My team needs me,’ so I stayed on that
touchline for the full 90.”
McCarthy surprised many by changing his entire frontline,
giving a start to Eduardo Amondi, a player who hadn’t featured in the previous
match.
“You go again on Thursday after Sunday,” he explained.
“So do you get the best out of tired legs, or do you freshen
it up? I felt we needed energy up front, and Amondi gave us that.”
But when the red card came, decisions had to be made.
“As a coach, you sometimes sacrifice players who are doing
well. Unfortunately, it's usually the strikers who suffer. Michele was playing
well, but we had to protect the midfield.”
Kenya nearly pulled off a counter-attack masterpiece in the
dying minutes—but one wrong pass shifted momentum, and Angola almost made them
pay.
“They countered our counter,” McCarthy said.
“That one wrong pass could have cost us everything. I was
heartbroken for the players. They gave everything.”
The full house at Kasarani played more than a symbolic role.
The fans lifted the team with waves of chants and song, defying the fatigue
that crept into Kenyan legs.
“Today we experienced 12 men,” said McCarthy.
“The crowd was
unreal. The Mexican wave, the energy, it was electric. When the game slipped
away from the plan, the fans kept us alive.”
Angola coach Pedro Gonçalves praised the Kenyan side while
expressing disappointment in the game’s flow.
“Congratulations to everyone in the stadium. It was a great
football party,” he said.
“But when the red card happened and the goalkeeper fell, we
have to be honest—it’s not the football we want.”
Still, he acknowledged his side’s failure to capitalize.
“Kenya made it incredibly difficult. Even with a man
advantage, we struggled to create chances. That tells you how well-organised
they were.”
McCarthy was adamant that the biggest barrier was not
tactical, but psychological.
“It’s like going to school for the first time—you don’t know
how to behave. We’ve had two games now, and we still look nervous in the first
half. We can’t keep doing that.”
He added:
“You can’t play just
45 minutes of football. The levels are different for a reason. We have to own
the full 90. We have to stop fearing the occasion.”
With four points from two games, Kenya sits top of Group
A—unexpected, but deserved.
And for McCarthy, this was more than just a result. It was a
statement.
“Modern-day football doesn’t let you get away with playing
with 10 men. But we did. That shows the heart these boys have.”
As the final whistle blew, the coach looked drained but
proud.
“I just want to hit my bed. This was the toughest match I’ve
coached. But I’m happy. Just really, really tired.”
What Comes Next
Kenya now turns its focus to a pivotal group clash against Morocco.
McCarthy knows the stakes have risen.
“We’ve got to cut out the mistakes. We cause ourselves pain.
But if we conquer fear, if we trust ourselves, we can go far.”
Angola, meanwhile, will look to regroup in their next match,
still within reach of qualification but stung by Kenya’s resilience.
Angola captain Gilberto summed it up best: “It was a tough
match. They made it hard. We’ll keep working.”
