Harambee Stars opponents in the opening match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Zimbabwe, have been dealt a blow ahead of the game as defender Brendan Galloway has been ruled out.The two sides are set to lock horns on Friday at the Mandela National Stadium in Uganda in what will be the first match of Group J of the qualifiers. Kenya would have hosted the match but lost the hosting rights due to lack of a CAF-approved stadium at the moment, even though Nyayo has been cleared to stage inter-club matches. ##NAJAVA_MECA_8305192##Zimbabwe, who are already in camp for the match, announced that Galloway had picked up a hamstring injury and thus will sit out of the Friday encounter. Galloway, who primarily plays as a left back, made his national team debut in 2021 in a World Cup qualifier clash against Ghana. Engin Firat explains Daniel Anyembe’s exclusion from Harambee Stars squadDespite being born in Harare, the defender featured for the English national youth teams between 2012 to 2021.He plies his trade with Championship side Plymouth and habours massive experience having played for a number of big clubs including Everton and Sunderland. STARS ABROAD: 18-year-old Kenyan midfielder makes league debut for AIK in SwedenThe absence of Galloway, who also slots in Central defence, gives Stars a slight edge going to the match in which the Warriors will be seeking to revenge. The last time two sides met, Kenya won 3-1 to lift the Four Nations tournament held in Malawi in March. Three months later the Kenyan U23 team floored Zimbabwe 2-0 in a COSAFA Cup duel staged in South Africa. List of Kenyans Timothy Ouma has joined ahead of UEFA Europa League participationBoth Kenya and Zimbabwe will be returning to the AFCON qualifiers after being locked in the hunt for a ticket to the 2023 finals held in Ivory Coast. Back then, both teams were under FIFA suspension.
