Late Gabon goal dim Harambee Stars in opening 2026 World Cup qualifier match

Harambee Stars have launched their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign on a sour note after going down fighting 2-1 to Gabon at the Stade de Franceville on Thursday evening.

Stars who are placed in group F of the qualifiers had a bright start in the game but couldn't hold on to their slim advantage in the second half, allowing Gabo to score twice to bag maximum points.

The game marked the return of Stars to competitive matches after two years out due to the FIFA suspension imposed on Kenya in November 2021. The suspension was lifted in November last year.

With the defeat, the Stars, turn their focus to the second round of the qualifiers against Seychelles on Monday in Ivory Coast.

Match Report

The Stars' technical bench must have let out a sigh of relief after goalkeeper Patrick Matasi was cleared to carry on after picking what looked like a shoulder injury.

The experienced custodian came out worse after throwing his body on the line in a bid to prevent the lurking forwards from converting from a cutback and ended up injuring his arm.

He was however given a clean bill of health and allowed to continue manning the goal where he used his height to the advantage of the team, coming off his line on a number of occasions to palm aerial balls out of danger.

Much as Gabon settled in the contest early, they barely threatened as Stars made the spaces tight and were disciplined in tracking movements and marking.

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The combination between Amos Nondi and Rooney Onyango in the right channel was promising throughout despite the two having to deal with pacy wingers who tried to overload and whip in dangerous crosses.

Nondi, a natural midfielder did well in carrying the ball forward while Onyango demonstrated class in delivering fine crosses and never tired of helping in defending.

Stars took the lead in the 40th minute against the run of play through Masud Juma who capitalized on a goalkeeping error to head home a long ball floated in the area by Nondi.

The Gabonese goalkeeper who had been brought in to replace his injured compatriot minutes earlier was supposed to make a rather comfortable catch but missed the ball, allowing Masud to head into an empty net.

Stars couldn’t pick from where they left off in the first half as Gabon called the shot in the final stanza, asking all manner of questions at the Kenyan goal.

Gabon levelled matters in the 60th minute through Denis Bouanga who drove the ball home from close range after a poor headed clearance by Johnstone Omurwa.

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The goal is all that Gabon needed to take full control of the game as they dominated forcing Firat to make changes aimed at containing them.

However, it wasn’t going to be an easy task for the visitors who grabbed the second goal in the 88th minute through Geulor Kanga.

The Red Star Belgrade player hit a screamer from outside the box, beating Matasi to hand Gabon the winning goal.