Sharks hold All Stars lads

A barren draw was the outcome of a friendly match between SportPesa All Stars and newly promoted premier league side Kariobangi Sharks played at the Moi International Sports Center in Kasarani on Sunday.

All Stars were using the match to prepare for their upcoming friendly engagement with English Premier League side Hull City Tigers, as Sharks gauged their preparedness for their debut season in this year’s SportPesa Premier League.

Okumbi fielded all his players during the match, including Ulinzi Stars forward John Mark Makwatta, who featured for his club during the Caf Champions League return match against Al Hilal Benghazi of Libya on Saturday afternoon.

There was a one-hour delay in kick off owing to the slight drizzle in Nairobi, and this may have had a bad effect on both sets of players as they appeared sluggish throughout the first half.

More action was however in store for the handful of fans gathered at the match venue in the second half and All Stars thought they had gone ahead in the 58th minute, but Geoffrey Kataka’s goal was flagged down for offside.

Young sensation Amos Nondi had beaten his marker Bolton Omwenga to the ball before unleashing a thunderous shot that Sharks’ goalkeeper John Oyiemba punched on Kataka’s path.

Sharks also missed a couple of good chances in that period, with Ibrahim Kitawi and Rodgers Omondi both squandering beautiful chances to level matters.

“First of all, we haven’t trained together for long, as opposed to Sharks who have played as a team for long. Secondly, I don’t have all my players here. There are players from Tusker who will be joining us tomorrow and that is when we shall be able to make conclusive plans for the game so for now I can just say thank you to the players for creating some good chances in the match,” SportPesa All Stars coach Stanley Okumbi said after match.

SportPesa All Stars will resume training on Monday at Kasarani and will be joined the following day by Tusker players (James Situma, David Okello, Humphrey Mieno and Allan Wanga) who missed the entire week’s training due to the CAF Champions League engagements in Mauritius.

The friendly match against Hull City will be played on Monday, February 27 at the KCOM stadium in Hull, and the return match is slated for July this year at Kasarani.

Apart from the glorious chance to play in Europe, the all-star team stands to receive a cash prize of more than Sh1.1 million excluding allowances should they beat the English Premier League club.