Harambee Stars coach Francis Kimanzi has conceded that his team lost to a better side as Kenya's reign as the regional kings ended in ignominy yesterday after they were thrashed 4-1 by unfancied Eritrea in the semi-finals of the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.
"Eritrea were better. They got their organisation right. We did not work as well as they did.It was a knockout match and we needed to keep on pressing. But sometimes you press wrongly and get punished,"Kimanzi observed.
"We conceded some easy goals which we could have done better as a team to defend them," he added.
Stars were looking to claim a third appearance in the final in the last six years after winning the 2013 and 2017 editions on home soil.
Kimanzi made only one change to the starting line up from the team that was on the pitch in the first game against Tanzania. Roy Okal of Mathare United replaced Sweden based Anthony Wambani in midfield.
Eritrea, meanwhile, had already made their own history by reaching their first-ever semi-finals and it was expected that was as far as they could go in the tournament particularly with the defending champions Kenya to contend with.
The underdogs, however, had not read that script and went ahead in the 18th minute when Ulinzi Stars forward Oscar Wamalwa bundled the ball into his own net to leave Francis Kimanzi's charges with an uphill task going into the break.
There was to be no respite for Stars as Eritrea doubled their lead just four minutes after the restart. Abel Solomon Okbay buried the goal that left Stars staring at an unexpected upset with 40 minutes left to play.
Those aspirations were revived in the 53rd-minute when Wamalwa atoned for his earlier own goal to halve the deficit with his third strike of the tourney. However, Michael Habte Gebremesqel (66) and Robel Kidane(75) struck twice to kill any hopes of a memorable comeback for Kenya. "It was not our day," admitted Kimanzi.
"We conceded four goals which meant that we made a lot of cheap mistakes. We could have worked better together as a unit maybe to get a positive result," concluded Kimanzi who was returning to the dugout for the first time since the opening day of the showpiece in Kampala, Uganda. He was serving a two-match stadium ban for a breach of tournament rules.
Harambee Stars line-up : 18. Samuel Odhiambo (GK), 2. Samuel Olwande, 16. David Owino, 5. Johnstone Omorwa, 4. Joash Onyango, 8. Lawrence Juma, 15. Kevin Kimani, 12. Roy Okal, 10.Kenneth Muguna, 9. Oscar Wamalwa, 20. Hassan Abdallah.
