Harambee Stars registered a morale -oosting 1-0 win over stubborn Madagascar in a pre-Africa Cup of Nations friendly match staged at the Stade Robert Bobin in Paris, France, on Friday night.
Captain Victor Wanyama converted the decisive penalty in the second half is all Kenya needed to silence the stubborn Madagascar, who had their spot-kick saved by goalkeeper – Patrick Matasi.
Madagascar proved a major obstacle, pushing the Kenyans to the wall and it took proper coordination of defenders Philemon Otieno, Abud Omar, Brian Mandela and Musa Mohammed to contain their swift opponents.
Stars were rampant in the later stages of the first half and early session of the second half where Erick Johanna, Ayub Timbe, Francis Kahata and John Avire created some chances but failed to translate them to anything.
Matasi proved a handful for the opposition, severally denying Madagascar clear scoring chances.
In the 16th minute, he hacked down an opponent in the box but redeemed himself by saving the resultant penalty.
Now with St George’s of Ethiopia, Matasi has repaid his coach’s faith with sublime performances, keeping three clean sheets in the qualifiers as Kenya once again returned to the continental stage after a 15-year hiatus.
Head coach Sebastien Migne will drop four more players before naming his final 23-man squad for the tournament.
Kenya will play DR Congo next Friday, 15 June before heading out to Cairo, their base for Group C action against Algeria (23 June), Tanzania (27 June) and Senegal (1 July).
