Nairobi City Stars and Sofapaka have picked from where they left before the October FIFA international window after labouring to a one-all draw at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on Saturday. The two sides had not won a league match in the 2024-2025 FKF Premier League season before the two-week long break that allowed Harambee Stars room to honour two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Cameroon. ##NAJAVA_MECA_8424521##Coach Robert Matano and his City Stars counterpart Nicholas Muyoti were expected to polish the weak areas, during the break, but there were no significant changes, spotted in their Saturday clash, as the two teams struggled to create and score. City Stars, who gave a good account of themselves in the past campaign, had to rally from a goal down to rescue a point from the match that was characterised by light showers. Kenyan international and Manchester United target pens new deal in SwedenSofapaka had taken the lead in the 29th minute through central defensive midfielder Jack Onganya, a goal that separated the two teams in the first half. Japanese striker Yuto Kusaba struck in the 59th minute to secure a point for his side as well as prevent what would have been the third straight defeat.##NAJAVA_MECA_8424514##Ahead of the clash, City Stars had suffered back-to-back defeats to AFC Leopards and Mara Sugar and needed nothing short of three points to redeem themselves. They however, found themselves trailing in the first half underlying how porous their defence has been as the team has conceded in all the four matches played so far. Outstanding players in Sakaja Cup promised slot at Nairobi UnitedSimba wa Nairobi, opened the season with a one-all draw against Bidco United, who are also winless in the season. Sofapaka, on the other hand, we’re coming off a 1-0 loss to the 2019 cup winners Bandari, which was their third defeat of the campaign. History as Rising Stars qualify for 2025 AFCONPreviously, the 2009 season league winners had played Mathare United to a 1-1 draw and had also registered identical 1-0 losses to FC Talanta and Tusker respectively. City Stars will hope to break the winless start when they face Kakamega Homeboyz in a mid-week fixture while Sofapaka will be seeking maximum points against Shabana.
