A second-half goal by Elvis Rupia earned Kenya a slim 1-0 win over neighbors South Sudan in an international friendly played at Nyayo Stadium on Saturday.
The Harambee Stars were the better of the two sides and came close to opening the scoring in the fifth minute when David Owino met a right wing cross with his thigh, but he saw his six-yard effort brilliantly saved by the South Sudan keeper.
Majak Maling was in action again for South Sudan in the 19th minute, this time flinging himself to his left to tip Abdallah Hassan’s header away from danger.
John Macharia failed to collect with Elvis Rupia’s cross from close range before Dantson Chetambe fired wide of the target with the visitors’ defence exposed.
Omar Adisa was having a good first half between the sticks for Kenya as he produced great saves to deny Tito Okello, Makueth Wol and Muyang Joeph.
South Sudan came close in the dying seconds of the half when Okello broke into the box, but saw his 16-yard shot skim the wrong side of the crossbar.
The second half was a close-knit affair as both teams kept it tight at the back which resulted in chance son goal being few and far between.
The first real chance of the second half came on the hour mark when Omot Sebit unleashed a powerful shot from just inside the box, but saw his effort well-saved by Adisa.
Kenya upped the tempo after the hour mark and they managed to break the deadlock on the 78the minute.
A Dantson Chetambe’s cross was tucked in by advancing Rupia who proceeded to fire a 10-yard thunderbolt into the back of the net, 1-0.
As the game wore on South Sudan pushed numbers forward and came close to finding the back of the in the 88th minute when Samuel Othok miscued a shot from close range following a goalmouth scramble.
Ultimately, Kenya secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over South Sudan, who were unable to grab a late equalising goal on the day.
Photo Credit: South Sudan Football Association
