Jamal, Murunga disrupt Malawi as Stars neutralise the Flames

There will be little excitement from Harambee Stars 2-2 away draw with Malawi on Wednesday compared to the 1-1 draw against Nigeria in March in Calabar in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

When they drew Nigeria, the Stars re awakened their chances of making it to Brazil. The result was like a win to Kenyans as the team had never scored against Nigeria away let alone a win.

But the draw in Malawi on Wednesday will win back the hearts of Kenyans but will count for nothing but pride. There will be some positives though from this game. In the absence of Dennis Oliech, Kenya found a new scorer in Andrew Murunga, who was playing his first full match.

Nigeria will be smiling, happy with the result that leaves them with only three points to win from two matches to reach the play off stage of the qualifiers. The Super Eagles were to play Namibia in Windhoek later on Wednesday evening.

Many had questioned the inclusion of Jamal Mohammed in the side after photos emerged of him at a social event days before the return match against Nigeria but he received praise from coach Adel Amrouche for the role he played on Wednesday, creating Kenya’s first goal scored by Murunga

“Jamal was my best player today. The team played great football and I hope Kenyans will give it time to mature,” Amrouche said.

Murunga, a graduate from Talent Academy has been impressive in the Kenyan League, a performance that earned him a call up to the national team. And by scoring on his first start lends hope that he may just be one of the solutions Kenya needs in its strike force.

The Stars went into that game under pressure after their 1-0 home defeat to Nigeria which effectively locked them out of the race to Brazil.

It was a weakened Kenya squad in Blantyre lacking midfielder Victor Wanyama who played a pivotal role in the game against Nigeria in which he was captain, and Dennis Oliech who decided to turn his back on the team after a spat with Amrouche. Goalkeeper Arnold Origi was also absent with an injury.

But their absence was not much felt as the boys did their job well to earn a draw.

Namibia a formality game

Going into the match, the Flames needed the three points badly, they had five points and would have gone equal with Nigeria had they won. But it is themselves who put off their own flame when they seemed to be headed for a win after a Chimango Kayira directed the ball into his own net in the 89th minute to level the scores at 2-2.

After a barren first half, it was Malawi who scored first within a minute of restart through Robin Ngalande.

But six minutes later, Jamal Mohammed played the role of supplier to Murunga who levelled the scores. Kenya has developed the knack of conceding goals in the final stages of their games and it was so again in Blantyre. Robert Ngambi put Malawi ahead again in the 81st, the same time Kenya conceded against Nigeria in Nairobi a week ago.

But a final minute push forced Malawi to fumble in their own box as Kayira sent his keeper Charles Swini the wrong way.

Kenya have one match left in the qualifiers, another formality game in Nairobi against Namibia. It will be Kenya’s opportunity to at least end the campaign in a respectable position as the Stars currently have three points from five games and sit bottom of the group.