Harambee Stars Tuesday night marked their long-awaited return to action with a 2-1 loss to Iran in a friendly match held at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
Skipper Michael Olunga had fired Stars ahead in the 50th minute, but goals from Mohammad Mohebbi and Ramin Rezaeian on 76 and 85 minutes ensured Team Melli maintained their dominance over coach Engin Firat’s side.
Stars goalkeeper Patrick Matasi was at fault for the winning the goal after spilling a shot by Ramin.
It was the first match for Stars in over a year following Kenya’s suspension by Fifa from February 24 to November 27 last year due to government interference.
Heading into the match, Firat had admitted that his side, who are ranked 101 globally, stood no chance to upset the 24th placed Iranians.
Iran fired early warning shots to Stars with a flurry of attacks in the opening five minutes.
Defender Jospeh Okumu did well in shielding Shahriyar Moghanlou from a dangerous ball in Stars’ box, before goalkeeper Patrick Matasi made a timely clearance outside his area.
The experienced Kenya Police custodian was busy again, clearing a corner-kick delivery with his fingertips, before calmly gathering the ball from Mohammad Karimi’s close range attempt.
Kenya survived again on nine minutes when Moghanlou fired wide after Matasi parried the ball in his direction.
Moments later the visitors had a chance to make their first scoring attempt, but Duke Abuya was timely disposed inside the box.
Stars wasted another chance of taking the lead in the encounter when Olunga blasted wide from a counter attack, instead of squaring the ball either to Abuya or Masud Juma.
Kenyan’s best scoring chance in the first half arrived on 27 minutes when Juma picked Abuya inside Iran’s box with a cross from the right, but with the Kenya Police’s man under pressure, he failed to beat goalkeeper Payam Niazmand.
As the match progressed, Stars still looked unsettled and coach Firat would be seen telling his boys to calm down.
Matasi was again forced to leave his line to make another clearance. Three minutes to the break, Juma wriggled his way inside the hosts box, but he slipped and his close range show went wide.
At the restart, Firat rested Abuya for midfielder Kenneth Muguna who made his presence felt immediately with a long range pass intended for Olunga upfront.
Iran wasted another chance to break the deadlock when Mehdi Taremi missed the ball inside the box as the Stars defence fumbled while attempting to make a clearance.
Olunga put Kenya ahead on 50 minutes with a close range left foot shot after an Iran defender failed to dispossess him.
Mohebbi almost drew Iran level on 60 minutes but Matasi was alert in his area before defender Amos Nondi made another timely save inside the Stars’ box.
Okumu also made another save inside the box to deny the hosts an equalizer. Iran leveled in the 75th minute through Mohebbi’s header from a free-kick, before Rezaeian struck their winning goal 10 minutes later following Matasi’s howler.
Iran have now defeated Kenya in all their three meetings. The two teams first clashed in a friendly match on April 21, 1997 in Tehran with the hosts winning 3-0.
They again met on March 14, 2009 in another friendly match in Tehran, which Iran triumphed by a solitary goal. BY DAILY NATION