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Lackluster defending allowed the hosts to pounce on a spilt ball from a first half set piece.
Cane growing nation Mauritius confirmed Kenya's fallen standards in football after their national team beat Harambee Stars 1-0 to in a four nations tournament fixture staged at the Cote d' or Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
After what was a largely uneventful first ten minutes, the game sparked to life when Clifton Miheso saw yellow for his rather clumsy challenge, but the freekick was not capitalized on by the hosts.
Kenya would get a freekick of their own just outside the box in the 12th minute after left back Eric Marcelo Ouma won a foul just outside the area after Richard Odada found him with a nice progressive long-ball from deep.
In the 14th minute, Stars, who were enjoying most of the possession nearly created their first chance when Odada yet again found Michael Olunga who had moved to the left hand channel and received the ball before whipping a dangerous cross towards Benson Omala, but Mauritius keeper Jean Louis was quick to smell the danger.
Mauritius were having to create their chances through setpieces, and created a series of two consecutive set piece situations. First, a free kick that caused confusion in the Kenyan box that resulted in Mauritius captain K.Vincent attempting a shot that was deflected away for a corner kick.
The second resulted into a goal through Kengy Saramandif after Kenya Keeper Bryne Omondi initially did well to save a towering header towards his goal, but he could not catch the ball as Saramandif capitalized on the rebound, having ran in behind to take advantage of Amos Nondi’s poor concentration marking the near post but failed to notice the threat behind him.
Kenya needed answers as the Mauritius crowd continued backing them, but struggled to make the most of the lion's share of possession, struggling to create any clear-cut chances apart from through set-piece situations. They also struggled to be effective in the final third playing on an astroturf.
Engin Firat needed to find answers at the break. He subbed off Benson Omala and Victor Omune for Moses Shummah and Abud Omar respectively. Kenya started well and could have equalized when Amos Nondi executed a clever pass into the final third but Teddy Akumu took too long to take a shot.
Mauritius continued playing for set pieces and could have scored yet again in the 52nd minute when another drill was well executed by the hosts but they could not test Omondi’s resolve this time round.
They got another in the 60th minute after a rather questionable decision by the referee to give a free kick against Kenya but they hit the resulting kick over the bar.
Firat decided to bring on Daniel Sakari for Clifton Miheso, and Sakari whipped in two dangerous long throws shortly afterwards, both of which were Stars’ most clear cut chances coincidentally.
Stars were certainly finding their groove and created yet another chance when Shummah received the ball well between the lines and passed it to Olunga who hit a dangerous shot on target at Jean Louis’ net.
Another dangerous long ball by Sakari in the 72nd minute caused more confusion in the Mauritius box and resulted in Eric Marcelo Ouma hitting the ball wide after Jean Louis had made a poor clearance with his parry.
In the 79th minute, Kenya should have restored parity when Marcelo whipped a dangerous cross towards Shummah, but his attempted header was tipped behind for a corner kick.
Kenya huffed and puffed but could not find a way to equalize and in the end, the final score read 1-0 to Mauritius.
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