Kenyan international Joseph Okumu suffered a heel injury that saw him feature for only 60 minutes in their 2-1 win against Club Brugge in a league match on Sunday evening.The defender did not feature the whole training session on Saturday ahead of the game after complaining of some pain on his heel but he was cleared on match day and went on to be named in the starting lineup.He was however withdrawn after complaining of the same problem again in the match, with Bruno Godeau taking his position in the team’s backline for the final half-hour.Kenyan International Joseph Okumu has scored his first goal for KAA Gent in the UEFA Conference League.His lone goal helped his team win 1-0 against Latvian side, FK Rīgas Futbola Skola.#KenyansAbroad pic.twitter.com/P4pEPyBS9Z— Ole Teya (@Kevin_teya) August 12, 2021 Speaking after the match, KAA Gent tactician Hein Vanhaezebrouck provided an injury update but added that they would be confirming the development of the defender who has been a key player for the side.”Some of the boys got cramps towards the end. Okumu was out in the second half with an injury. Hard to say right after the match. Joseph trained only three-quarters of the training on Saturday. He had some pain in his heel. We brought in Godeau. Not easy for him to take centre stage, but he did a great job,” said Vanhaezebrouck.Harambee Stars and KAA Gent defender Joseph Okumu is the first Kenyan to play in the group stages of the UEFA Europa Conference League.He featured for the full 90 in a 2-0 win against Anorthosis Famagusta (Cypria). History. pic.twitter.com/D7KkXIdz8H— OptaKe (@ke_opta) September 30, 2021 Okumu’s time on the sidelines, if any, will come as a big blow for Gent but the return of Michael Ngadeu from the Africa Cup of Nations where he was with Cameroon will offer some sort of reprieve.Gent got back to winning ways with the result after going for seven matches across all competitions without recording a win, their last one coming in December in a cup match.
