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Harambee Stars to play Liberia in international friendly match

By ISAAC SWILA October 12th, 2016 2 min read

The national football team Harambee Stars will play Liberia’s Lone Stars in the next Fifa international calendar (November7-15), Football Kenyan Federation has confirmed.

The federation said that the planned friendlies are part of the routine measures of keeping the team active to ensure that head coach Stanley Okumbi gets time to work with the players on a regular basis and also to assess their progress.

“It’s true we have planned for the friendly in the next window. We have not settled on a venue yet, but probably it will be at the Kasarani Stadium,” FKF’s Communication and Public Relations Manager, Barry Otieno told Nairobi News on Wednesday.

Just under two weeks ago, the Stars shocked the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in a high-profile international friendly in Kinshasa. Striker Michael Olunga scored the lone goal.

It was Stars first major win away from home soil since 2002 when they beat Cape Verde in Praia en-route to the 2004 African Cup of Nations finals.

At the same time, the federation has planned three other friendly matches for the national women’s team Harambee Starlets.

The Starlets will face Cameroon over two legs (home and away) and also clash with Egypt during the same period.

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The David Ouma coached team will first battle the Cameroonians on October 22 in Nairobi before facing them in the return leg in Yaounde on November 5, in what should be their final build-up match before they begin their quest for the African Cup of Nation title. These two leg fixture will sandwich the one against Egypt whom they confront on October 28 in Nairobi.

“We hope that the November 5 match will be their final build-up and that they will stay in Cameroon after the match as they await the Afcon finals to kick off. These plans are however subject to changes,” Otieno added.

The continental showpiece, where Kenya will be making her maiden appearance, begins on November 19 and ends on December 3.

Kenya is pooled in Group B together with champions Nigeria, Mali and Ghana, while hosts Cameroon are in pool A together with Egypt, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the Starlets will jet out on Thursday for Marrakech, Morocco, where they are expected play three friendly matches.

The team will tackle the Moroccan national side and two other select teams. All matches will be played in Marrakech, a city located 323 kilometres south of the capital Rabat.