Kenyan international John Avire featured for just two minutes as his new side Misr Lel Makkasa as they went down 2-0 to 10-men Pharco FC in an Egyptian top-tier game played in Alexandria on Thursday evening.The forward spent much of the time on the bench, only coming on in the 88th minute to replace Karim Salah with his team already trailing by two goals.A goal in each half saw the host record their first win and their first points in the league this season after playing four rounds of matches, having lost the other three.For El-Makkasa, it was their second defeat in four matches, having won one and drawn another previously.Abdallah Bakri opened the scoring for the league debutants just four minutes into the game, scoring from a Walid Ali Farag pass to give the host a very early lead.Happy Birthday, John Avire 🎂 pic.twitter.com/Q6KtZFdkqh— Harambee Stars (@Harambee__Stars) March 12, 2021 After the goal, Pharco held on to the lead but were dealt a blow with four minutes left in the first half when Mahmoud Emad was sent in for an early shower after a bad tackle but they went on to hold to their lead to the break.Even the numerical advantage was not enough for Makkasa as they conceded the second goal with 10 minutes left to play in regular time, this time Amr Gamal finding the back of the net after being played in by Azmi Ghouma.This was the first meeting between the two teams in the Premier League, with Pharco having been promoted for the first time after finishing top of their group in the 2020–21 Egyptian Second Division.Makkasa will play Al-Ittihad Alexandria in their fifth game on Sunday and will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways.Harambee Stars striker John Avire has switched clubs in Egypt. He has joined Aswan FC from FC Tanta.#KenyansAbroad pic.twitter.com/MZqQXay7MU— Ole Teya (@Kevin_teya) November 30, 2020 The former Sofapaka forward switched clubs twice in the span of a month as he joined Aswan FC back in December 2020 and later moved to Coca Cola FC in January this year, before making the switch to his current station.Avire’s moved to Tanta back in 2019 after featuring in the African Cup of Nations that was hosted in Egypt was marred with drama after Sofapaka failed to issue a release letter citing player tapping.
