Blunt Kenyan striking force under pressure to deliver

Two hundred and thirty three minutes have lapsed since Harambee Stars, under the tutelage of new coach Paul Put, scored a goal at the ongoing Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

This tabulates to about four hours of football, which by all accounts, is an embarrassing statistic to associate with any professional side.

Besides, Kenya have only scored twice in three matches in this competition, with both goals coming in the opening game against Rwanda in Kakamega eight days ago. 

In the proceeding matches versus Libya and Zanzibar, the hosts have fired blanks. 

Consequently, five of the nine teams competing in this annual competition, namely Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, have scored more goals than Kenya. Only Libya and South Sudan have managed less.

This stats will without doubt pile pressure on both Put, and his attacking foursome consisting SportPesa Premier League top-scorer Masoud Juma, Kepha Aswani, Vincent Oburu and George Odhiambo, ahead of the team’s must win final group A clash against Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro Stars at the Kenyatta stadium in Machakos.

“They (strikers) will have to wake up,” said former Stars striker Bonface Ambani. “This is a problem that translates from our league, our forwards have not been scoring enough goals,” he added.

“Luckily, the team is creating chances. So I urge the forwards not to worry too much about missed chances, try play normally and your breakthrough will come.” On his part, Put has urged his charges to be ‘brilliant’ when the chances come along.

The former Burkina Faso coach said after the stalemate against Zanzibar: “We’ve been dominating our games, creating chances, but at times you need brilliance to make the difference.”

Stars and Libya are competing for the remaining semi-final berth from Group ‘A’, with surprise package Zanzibar having already scooped the other.