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Vieira has explained why he had to sub off the former Mathare United and Wazito defender at halftime.
Estrela Amadora manager Sérgio Vieira has revealed the reason he subbed off Harambee Stars defender Johnstone Omurwa at halftime during the side’s 1-0 defeat to Porto on Friday night.
Omurwa, who appeared to have come of age for Kenya particularly with his passing as he made the pre-assist for Amos Nondi’s winning goal, flew back to Portugal to prepare for the match, which made him miss Harambee Stars' second international friendly against South Sudan.
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07:55 - 09.09.2023
FOOTBALL Harambee Stars: Why Firat must stick with Omurwa-Okumu partnership in central defence
The centre-back pairing of Joseph Okumu and Johnstone Omurwa produced many positives in Thursday's win against Qatar and the Stars coach must avoid the temptation of tinkering with it
However, he was subbed off at half-time, which made keen Kenyans ponder why he was not allowed to complete all 90 minutes.
Speaking after the match, Vieira came out to defend the reason for his change, suggesting that jet lag after flying back may have affected his mental capacity to be fully concentrated for the match.
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08:00 - 13.09.2023
FOOTBALL: Eight lessons learned from Harambee Stars' defeat to South Sudan
The loss saw South Sudan register their maiden win over Kenya since attaining independence back in 2011
“We have to keep working because our players are the players who are in the process of an evolution,” Vieira said.
“Either it is the first year, or it is the second year (playing in the top division of Portugal) so at the beginning of that maturity at a high level where a small mistake pays dearly.
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08:41 - 16.09.2023
FOOTBALL Why Michael Olunga should not be judged on goals alone despite Harambee Stars drought
Michael Olunga has faced criticism from a section of Kenyan fans over his lack of goals for Harambee Stars but he brings much more to the side
“So that is what will happen in the case of Johnstone who has some fantastic characteristics in individual terms but he should have went up faster and I saw that when they gave that space for the ball to go in there for the first goal, Gaspar himself too and the two of them.
“They arrived from international duty, they traveled for 15 to 16 or 20 hours and it is normal that mentally they were not in the right place to make 100 percent the right decisions and Porto took advantage of that.”
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09:50 - 16.09.2023
STARS ABROAD Johnstone Omurwa underwhelms as Estoril are downed by Porto
The Kenyan defender left Harambee Stars camp early to link up with his Portuguese club for Friday's match but he ended up on the losing side
Omurwa signed for Estrela from Wazito in 2022, and has slowly grown to be trusted by the side who were promoted to the top flight last season.
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