• Stars will look to claw the Leopards and jet to Egypt for the finals, blossoming in confidence.
• Migne is likely to start first-choice goalkeeper Patrick Matasi owing to the clean sheets he has kept so far.
Image: ERICK BARASA
Harambee Stars will play their final friendly match ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations against a star-studded DR Congo today at the Estadio Esanta Ana Madrid Spain.
Stars, who dimmed Madagascar last week, will look to claw the Leopards and jet to Egypt for the finals, blossoming in confidence in their quest to conquer in the tough Pool ‘C’ which has tournament pre-favourites Senegal and Algeria.
Coach Sebastien Migne, whose defence line has been hit hard by injuries, will have to do without the services of Musa Mohammed who is carrying a knock he suffered during the team’s 1-0 win over Madagascar in a friendly match played last week.
Migne will be sweating over the readiness of the Nkana Red Devil’s stopper Musa Mohammed ahead of the tournament as he remains a doubt for the opening group stage match against Algeria on June 23rd.
The former Gor Mahia star was included in the final 23-man squad with the technical bench well aware of the injury.
In Musa’s absence, Migne will turn to the quadruple of Joseph Okumu, Joash Onyango, David 'Calabar' Owino and Bernard Ochieng to select the pair which will be deployed at the heart of the defence.
Earlier, Migne preferred to assign Musa and Brian Mandela to man the central defence but the latter was dropped from camp after hurting his knee in training.
Out of the four available defenders, only Onyango and Okumu have played under the watch of Migne and are deemed as favourites to seal the two spots.
Onyango, who features for Kenyan champions Gor Mahia, played alongside Musa when Kenya recorded a historical 1-0 win over Ghana at the Moi Stadium, Kasarani last year during the qualifiers. Okumu, on the other hand, skippered the national U-23 team Emerging Stars in their 5-0 demolition of Mauritius during the Olympics qualifiers and was an unused substitute in the Afcon qualifiers and were Ochieng and Owino.
Migne is likely to start first-choice goalkeeper Patrick Matasi owing to the clean sheets he has kept so far while Philemon Otieno and Abud Omar are almost a sure bets to retain their full back roles.
Skipper Victor Wanyama will anchor the midfield alongside Dennis Odhiambo as Ayub Timbe and Erick Ouma make good use of their pace in the flanks. Erick Johanna is set to maintain his playmaker roles while Michael Olunga will be tasked with scoring goals.
The last time the two sides met, Kenya reaped a 2-1 win at Kenyatta Stadium Machakos in March 2017 and had registered a 1-0 win the previous year in another friendly fixture.
However, Stars are expected to have torrid moments in containing a number of dreaded Congolese players among them former Everton winger Yannick Bolasie and Chinese-based winger Cedrick Bakambu who had a glamorous stint with Spanish side Villarreal before moving to his current club Beijing Guoan.
Under the tutelage of experienced coach Florent Ibenge and Yanga coach Mwinyi Zahera, the Leopards will also rely on the services of former Norwich striker Deumerick Mbokani, Youssof Mulumbu and long-serving TP Mazembe midfielder Tresor Mputu Mabi. Other dependable players are former Newcastle centre half Chacel Mbemba, West Ham left-back Arthur Masuaku and Wolfsburg defender Marcel Tisserand.