Harambee Stars head coach Jacob 'Ghost' Mulee has urged his charges to learn fast how to overcome stage fright when they next meet Tanzania in their return fixture at Moi Stadium, Kasarani on Thursday.
Mulee said he noticed that the Kenyans appeared timid against their opponents despite the slim win.
"Our players should learn to live up to expectations on the big stage. We should have registered a better result but most of them appeared to have suffered from stage fright," said Mulee.
The veteran tactician said he is confident the team will ultimately gel and put up a good show, noting that the squad members were hungry for success especially coming after the lengthy break occasioned by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Tanzania proved themselves as a formidable side and we must work hard in our next match because I don't think it will be easy to surmount them for a second time," observed Mulee.
He wants his charges to go for goals in future encounters instead of falling back to defend slim wins.
"I'm not a defensive-minded coach. I believe in ball possession and goals but today I didn't see much of that," he said.
Mulee tinkered his line up a bit, preferring to hand the current Football Kenya Federation Premier League top scorer Eric Kapaito a starting role after keeping him on the bench in their 1-0 win over South Sudan on Saturday.
The mercurial Kariobangi Sharks striker didn’t disappoint as he sneaked into the area barely 20 minutes into the match to nod in the opening goal after being neatly picked out by Lawrence Juma.
In the 38th minute, however, the visitors made their presence felt as Ayubu Lyanga unleashed a thunderous left-footer from a rebound to restore parity after his initial attempt bumped off the woodwork with Saruni already sprawling helplessly on the ground.
Mulee brought on Hassan Abdalla for James Mazembe at the start of the second half and the decision proved fruitful as Abdalla came on the end of Juma’s pass to extend Kenya’s advantage in the 63rd minute.
Tanzania captain Juma Kaseja believes the two friendly matches will afford them an opportunity to sharpen their relatively young squad.
"We have a host of new call ups in the squad and I believe they got an opportunity to learn a lot from this match," said Kaseja.
Kaseja sent a stern warning to Kenya to prepare for a tough match on Thursday as they will have plugged all the loopholes that cost them today's match.
"Obviously, you don't expect us to fall to Kenya twice. Our opponents should prepare for a bruising battle on Thursday," he warned.
Kenya are using the friendlies to gauge their preparedness ahead of two remaining African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt and Togo later in the month.
