Kenya's national soccer team, Harambee Stars, defeated Angola 2-1 to move second in Group J at the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Saturday.
It was a bitter lovable day for Inter Milan midfielder MacDonald Mariga who scored the winner in the 89th minute but was immediately sent off after receiving a second yellow card for taking off his shirt in the celebration that ensued at the Nyayo National Stadium.
After a loss and a draw in the their opening two matches, Harambee Stars needed a win to keep their slim hopes of qualification alive and they got it in a thrilling match in Nairobi coming from behind to beat the Palancas Negras.
The Black Antelopes prolific striker Mateus Manucho had broken the deadlock in the 20th minute with a rifling shot from inside the box past a hapless Arnold Origi in Kenya's goal after receiving a fine pass from Djalma Campos.
Manucho who took advantage of lax Stars defending and chipped over the onrushing home keeper Arnold Origi.
But Stars substitute Jamal Mohamed tied the game at 1-1 three minutes after coming on in the second half to give the home side something to feed on after being pressurized by the Antelopes for most of the afternoon.
"As I said before, I was not under any pressure and as I had promised, we got the victory. I'm proud of my prayers who gave their all, especially Mariga who took the red card for his nation. We are now going to focus on our away match. I prefer playing away matches since there is no booing by your own fans and pressure is on them," Kenya head coach, Zedekiah 'Zico' Otieno told reporters after the game.
"I'm very happy for the 30 million Kenyans who waited for this long to see us winning. It was a great effort by all of us and we are disappointed for losing our partner, Mariga. I promise to score for him in Angola since the decision to send him off was not fair," team captain, Oliech said.
"For a moment, I forgot I had the yellow and it was stupid for me to get sent off like that. I believe we have good players to take my place but the referee was not fair to us. The first yellow was a bad decision but we have to carry on. I dedicate the winning goal to my family and all Kenyans. They deserved victory," Mariga stated.
Zico's opposite number, Lito Vidigal, rued his side's wasted chances particularly in the first half where the 2006 World Cup finalists had Kenya on the ropes.
"We had a better game than Kenya and the result is very disappointing. We must return home to prepare for the next game but we did not deserve to lose here," Vidigal rued. His star striker, Manucho, regretted his side's inability to build on his cracking opener saying, "I don't know how we lost, I'm very sad it happened since this is not the result we should have got. It's not all lost, we can still rescue our campaign if we win all the remaining games, we have hopes of qualifying for the Nations Cup."
Manucho should have scored a hat-trick in the first half where the hosts looked bereft of ideas with a static midfield. He got clean on goal on seven minutes but his effort was cleared off the line by Dennis Odhiambo. He then got to the end of a floated Felisberto Amaral free kick in the 11th minute to force Origi into a point blank save before he opened the scoring nine minutes later.
A howler by Odhiambo who attempted to pass the ball to his keeper with Manucho lurking in the 23rd saw the lanky striker reach the ball but Origi produced another stunning relex action to deny him. In the opposite end, Oliech almost profited from a mistake by Lius Joao in the fourth as the Angolan keeper raced off his line but he escaped punishment.
After the break, Otieno brought on Mohammed and Victor Mugabe for Johanna Omolo and Joseph Nyaga and the changes had the desired effect when the former began the move that saw the ball reach Mariga who turned it back to Oliech. The French Ligue 1 AJ Auxerre striker turned to shoot and Joao could only parry the ball to the path of the substitute to score.
Angolan substitute Fabrico Matutan wasted a glorious opportunity to send his side to the lead on 77 minutes when he raced to a through ball to leave only Origi to beat but the Kenyan custodian, returning to the side after a long injury lay-off, repulsed his weak effort.
It was his quick thinking that gave Kenya the lift they needed when his long clearance up-field from a broken Angolan attack led Zalatato head it back to the feet of Mariga 30 yards out and the midfielder picked his spot on the left hand corner of Joao's goal with a thumping strike.
Kenya improved to four points to move to provisional second in their group with leaders Uganda, also on four points, set to meet Guinea Bissau later Saturday.
