Kenya on the brink of 2024 COSAFA Cup semis after Zimbabwe win

Kenya gave themselves a huge chance of making it to the semifinals of the 2024 Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) Cup after beating Zimbabwe 2-0 in the final Group B match played at the Wolfson Stadium in South Africa on Tuesday afternoon.

Goals from the Gor Mahia duo of Austin Odhiambo and Benson Omala helped the Ken Odhiambo-coached side to securing the win that saw them finish the group on 6 points, same as Comoros who only took first spot courtesy of head to head advantage.

The Emerging Stars of Kenya came into the match desperate to atone for their poor show against Comoros where they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat on Sunday.

Play here and stand a chance of winning the over 10 Million SportPesa Midweek jackpot

They had to weather a stormy start as Zimbabwe controlled the early proceeding and the strong winds proved tough to deal with, especially in the first half.

They however managed to keep Zimbabwe away from their danger areas and the two teams went into the break with the deadlock intact.

It was in the second half where they proved to be clinical as Odhiambo, just nine minutes into the second half, brought down Ronney Onyango’s cross into the area with a sweet touch before striking a powerful low shot that found its way to the back of the net.

Zimbabwe tried to get themselves back into the game on a couple of occasions but Bryne Omondi ensured Kenya stayed in the lead with some alert goalkeeping.

ALSO READ: Exclusive: Gor Mahia appoint Brazilian Leo Neiva to take over from McKinstry

The goalkeeper then played a massive part in extending Kenya’s lead as his pass from his goal area located Omalla in the other box, the 23/24 Football Kebya Federation Premier League Golden Boot winner dinking the ball over the onrushing keeper to get the job done for Kenya.

“We had a very difficult first half because the wind was going against us so we were finding it tough to pass the through balls to our striker. Coming into the second half, we knew the wind would be in our direction so we had to push for the goals.

From the first half we saw they were stepping up and in the second half we played long balls behind them and we managed to get a goal through that,” Odhiambo, who was named man of the match remarked after the game.

ALSO READ: South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns release experienced Kenyan defender

“First of all let me commend my boys because they did a good job despite the conditions. It was too windy which made it difficult to play football. We had a chat at half time and encouraged each other which was the other thing that worked for us,” Kenya’s head coach said.

With only the group winners and the best second-placed side from across the three pools advancing to the last four, Kenya will have to wait for the results in Group C to know their fate.

Namibia and Angola, who have four points, are the two sides that can surpass their six points and deny them the best second-placed tag.

ALSO READ: Athletics coaches championing change in Iten win 500,000 through Tujiamini Gold Award by SportPesa