Harambee Stars up against Namibia in AFCON qualifier

By Peter Ochieng

National football team, Harambee Stars will later today take to the pitch against Namibia, in the second match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

The key group J match will be played at the Orlando Stadium, in Johannesburg, with star striker Michael Ogada Olunga expected to lead the line for Coach Engine Firat charges.

The game kicks off at 7.00pm East African Time.

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) Channel One TV is set to broadcast the encounter live.

Harambee Stars began their qualification campaign with a 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe at Mandela Stadium in Uganda, on Friday last week.

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon defeated Namibia 1-0 in another match, and currently tops the group with 3 points.

Kenya and Zimbabwe are tied with a point each, while Namibia is yet to register any point.

Zimbabwe will play host to Cameroon in another clash.

Match officials for the upcoming clash will include Salisu Basheer, Grema Mohammed, Pwadutakam Samuel and Abdulmajeed Olaide.

The top two teams from each group will earn a spot in the 2025 AFCON tournament, to be hosted by Morocco, with qualifiers ending in November.

After losing to Cameroon, Firat said he expects Namibia to came out full throttle to attack against Harambee Stars.

As such, he said his plan is to deploy a tight defence counter attack strategy to come out tops.

"Namibia will likely play more offensively after losing to Cameroon, making things easier for us. We plan to sit back and hit them on the counter," he said.

The coach will most likely miss Alphonce Omija and Erick Ouma.

Omija was stretchered off early in the Zimbabwe match, while Ouma had to be withdrawn in the latter stages due to injury.

"I always have a long list of injured players. In our first match, Alphonce Omija got injured, and Eric Ouma could not finish the game because of injury."

"In the end, we will have to trust other players, but let's see what the medical department says. It would be unfortunate if we lose more than half of the team," he added.