Harambee Stars were held to a disappointing draw by Chad in an international friendly game on Saturday evening.

Kenya went into the game as the overwhelming favourites given their extremely superior ranking by FIFA, but in the end failed to break down a resilient Chadian side.

Harambee Stars head coach Benni McCarthy paired veteran Brian Mandela and Gor Mahia's Alphonce Omija at the back with Aboud Omar and Daniel Sakari running the flanks.

Wilson Lenkupae, Brian Musa and Alpha Onyango were preferred in the middle of the pack as Brian Muchiri and Adam Wilson provided the width on the wings. Moses Shumah led the line up front.

Kenya was the better of the two sides for the better part of the game, but failed to take their chances.

Shumah had two decent chances in quick succession to fire Kenya ahead.

The Kakamega Homeboyz striker first latched onto a loose ball inside the area in the eighth minute, but his shot sailed over the bar.

He then fired straight at the Chad goalkeeper, Mbainais Jordan, after Muchiri had won the ball and squared the pass.

Harambee Stars were unrelenting, as they piled more pressure on their opponents. Lenkupae was brought down in the box, but referee Bouchra Karboubi waved away the appeals.

The Central Coast Marriners midfielder had a couple of decent opportunities to give Kenya the lead, but was wasteful in front of goal.

Muchiri, who was a constant source of threat down Kenya’s left flank, found the Australian-born player twice in good position, but his efforts were wide off the mark.

Adam skipped past a couple of challenges in the 22nd minute before unleashing a ferocious shot, forcing the Chad goalkeeper into another save.

At the stroke of halftime, Lenkupae had another strong appeal after he was fouled just outside the area. The appeals once again fell on deaf ears with the referee booking McCarthy for dissent.

The South African tactician made an immediate change after the break, taking off Brian Musa for Austine Odhiambo.

Shumah won a free kick in striking range, but Kenya made a mess of it. Lenkupae played it short with the cutback getting cleared easily by the Chad defence.

Lenkupae missed another brilliant one-on-one opportunity after he was released through on goal. The Chadian goalkeeper needed two bites at it before making the save on the line.

McCarthy made more changes, taking off Lenkupae and Wilson and bringing David Sakwa and Ben Stanley. More changes came a few minutes later with Muchiri and Shumah making way for Emmanuel Osoro and James Kinyanjui.

Both sides had half-decent chances as the game wound down, but neither failed to get a breakthrough in what would be an uplifting result for Chad.

McCarthy will have to go back to the drawing board as they face the same opponents on Tuesday at the same venue.

The result leaves McCarthy winless since he was appointed Kenya's boss in March. He oversaw the three-all draw against Gambia in his opening game before losing to Gabon on home soil in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

In a related report, explained how Harambee Stars can qualify for World Cup 2026.

Kenya can still mathematically qualify for the competition, but faces an uphill task after they lost to Gabon in March.

Benni McCarthy's side are fourth in Group F behind Ivory Coast, Gabon and Burundi.

Source: TUKO.co.ke