New man Paul Put winning over hardcore fans

What you need to know:

  • Kenya eventually defeated the islanders 3-2 on post-match penalties with goalkeeper Patrick Matasi the hero of the day.

His project and plans for Kenya may be still be at the infancy stage, but already, Harambee Stars coach Paul Put is steadily winning over a chunk of the team's normally hard-to-please support base.

At least considering the performances of the team at the just concluded Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

Put took over from the youthful Stanley Okumbi last month, at a time when the supporters’ faith in the team was at an all-time low.

His arrival also caused a purge within the team's technical bench, leading to Musa Otieno and Frank Ouna moving out the revolving door of the team's coaching department.

Barely a month after his arrival, and Stars are already displaying a vastly improved game plan.

On Sunday, the hosts put up a fairly improved performance against Zanzibar, in a thrilling contest that was not decided until after 120 minutes of grueling action.

Kenya eventually defeated the islanders 3-2 on post-match penalties with goalkeeper Patrick Matasi the hero of the day.

"It was all about concentrating on the task at hand, and team work. That helped us achieve this result," the keeper said after the game.

During the game, Kenya twice took the lead with Zanzibar equalising on both occasions.

Overall, the game had both sets of fans on the edge in it’s entirely, but importantly showed a vast improvement for most of the Kenyan players.

The team had not conceded a single goal in the run up to the final of the Challenge Cup, despite facing Tanzania, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Libya and Burundi.
This impressive stat did not surface by fluke.

Rather, it seems a result of some hard work behind the scenes, with the Belgian coach, whose successes at the helm of the Burkina Faso national team and top Algerian club USM Algiers are well documented, drilling the side to always maintain discipline and shape at all times.

"I can already feel that the team is improving after each game and each session. The desire for improvement is important more than any other thing because we have a long way to go to achieve our plans and desires," Put said after the final.

Besides, when watching the team closely during the Cecafa tournament, you get that feeling the coach has already improved a majority of the players he is working with.

Ovella Ochieng, Vincent Oburu, Dennis Sikhayi and Duncan Otieno are some of the players who have benefitted in this regard.

Importantly, Stars performances give Kenyan hope ahead of the 2019 Africa Nations Cup qualifier with a match against Ghana slated for next September.