Kenya’s national football team Harambee Stars were edged out 1-0 by hosts Zanzibar from the Mapinduzi Cup at Gombani Stadium on Friday, January 10th, 2025.
The hosts grabbed a late winner, with Ali Inzaghi rising highest to head home from a corner, securing their place in the final against Burkina Faso on Monday, January 13th, 2025 at the same venue.
Francis Kimanzi’s charges went into the match sitting second in the four-team group, having collected four points from their first two games thus they only needed a draw against Zanzibar to secure a spot in the final.
On the other hand, Zanzibar entered the match in third place with three points and faced the daunting task of needing a win to overtake Kenya and advance to the final, with group leaders Burkina Faso already sealing their place in the championship decider.
Kenya were reduced to 10 players after captain Aboud Omar was shown a straight red card following an altercation with the referee in the 70th minute, leaving the team to finish the match with a man down.
Omar was among four Stars players who accosted the referee in the 68th minute, seemingly aggrieved by a foul called against Alphonce Omija just outside the box.
A few blows were exchanged in that moment , with the stoppage extending to nine minutes before Omar exited the field of play to acclaims from the technical bench.
