The Emerging Stars advanced to this stage after narrowly overcoming Tanzania 5-4 on aggregate in the first round. After a series of missed chances in the first half, Kenya had to wait until the 54th minute to take the lead.
Henry Omollo latched onto a superb cross from the right side and quickly turned around before sneaking it past young Ivorian defenders and onto the top right corner for the deserved lead.
However, a mistake at the back around the Young Elephants back into the game in the 74th minute. Oumar Konate took advantage of a misplaced ball to dribble past two defenders before finding the back of the net.
Kenya were now left chasing for the winner and head coach Anthony Kimani summoned to the bench to increase the team’s attacking intensity. In came Andreas Odhiambo, and he turned out to be the hero for Kenya.
Odhiambo produced a moment of breathtaking brilliance, dancing past defenders before burying the ball into the net in the 89th minute to send the stadium into raptures.
A minute later, Ivory Coast were reduced to 10 men after Christ Tape was shown a red card.
[match-header-widget id=”369bc1fe-bba5-4bd3-add6-0bd242b44f71″ event-id=”U9WUe4R7″ sport-id=”1″ /]‘Ivory Coast have quality to reverse’
Speaking after the game, Ivory Coast coach Sebastien Bannier conceded Kenya’s second goal had complicated matters for his side ahead of the return leg in a fortnight.
“We cannot afford to switch off against a team with Kenya’s attacking ability. The second goal hurt us because we had worked hard to recover after conceding first,” Bannier told the media.
He, however, remained optimistic of overturning the result at home. He said: “We still have another 90 minutes in Abidjan. We have the quality to turn this around, but we must be more clinical and more careful defensively.”
Bannier concluded: “We have 90 minutes to put things right. We must learn from the mistakes we made here and approach the return match with greater concentration.”
Kenyan coach Kimani said: “We have won the first battle, not the war. Cote d’Ivoire will come at us strongly on their own turf, but we must carry this confidence into the return leg.
“We want to go there and play football. We respect Cote d’Ivoire, but we also believe in our ability. If we remain brave and take our chances, we can finish this job.”
Kenya will now travel to Abidjan for the return leg on Tuesday, November 17th, at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny.
The winner of the tie will progress to the third and final qualifying round, with a place at the 2027 U-23 AFCON at stake. The tournament will also serve as the qualifying competition for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
