Calm Ethiopia hold stars

Coach Adel Amrouche was absent on Wednesday as Kenya opened their campaign in the East and Central Africa Senior Challenge on shaky ground after they were held to a barren draw by Ethiopia.

The whereabouts of the Belgian coach remained unknown though his assistant James Nandwa said Amrouche was suffering from a stomach bug.

But behind the scenes, the coach has been complaining over some issues and had even threatened not to take up his position in the competition.

Harambee Stars toiled all through but just could not find that cutting edge. A win would have worked well for Kenya especially after Zanzibar, who are also in the group had beaten South Sudan 2-1 in the earlier game.

“We have not played well but I can say we tried given our opponents have been together for quite some time while we have only trained for a week,” Nandwa said.

“I hope to make changes and improve on our attacking in the next game,” he added.

The crowds were not impressive as expected. Five minutes to the kick-off, the stadium was virtually empty and it seemed as if Ethiopia were the home team as their fans chanted on one side of the terraces.

Francis Kahata was given the skipper’s role by coach James Nandwa while reigning Kenyan Premier League Player of the Year Jacob Keli started on the bench.

Ethiopia were coming into this match as one of the most fancied side to win the tournament given their recent form which had seen them as the only side from the region to qualify to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

They also reached the play off stage of the qualifiers to the 2014 World Cup.

In their earlier match, Zanzibar Heroes needed just five minutes to pull the opening goal through danger man Suleiman Kasiim, who drilled into the opposition’s net beating the Bright Stars’ custodian Juma Jinaro before substitute Adeyum Saleh Ahmed added the second goal.