'Lapses' to blame Kenya's Rising Stars defeat in U-20 AFCON

Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation (FKF).

Kenya U20 national team assistant coach Anthony Akhulia has blamed the team’s lack of concentration, specifically at the end of the first half, for their 3-1 defeat to Tunisia in Group B of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

Kenya went into the fixture at the 30 June Air Defence Stadium in Cairo seeking to recover from their 3-2 opening defeat against Morocco. Tunisia entered the match desperate to avoid a second successive loss, having fallen 1-0 against Nigeria in their opening match.

Kenya struck first in a lively encounter. Lawrence Ouma gave the East Africans a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute, pouncing from close range after a smart assist by Hassan Beja.

However, Tunisia found a route back into the game just before half-time through a penalty converted by Farès Bousnina, following a VAR review for handball by Baron Ochieng in the box. The equaliser shifted momentum in Tunisia's favour going into the break.

The Carthage Eagles emerged dominant after the restart. They introduced substitutes Omar Ben Ali and Alaeddine Derbali, who made an immediate impact. Ben Ali made it 2-1 in the 70th minute with a composed finish from close range after persistent attacking pressure.

Derbali then sealed the victory five minutes from time with a spectacular long-range strike that flew into the top corner, capping a confident second-half performance from Tunisia and ending a four-match winless run at the finals.

“First, I congratulate Tunisia, they had a good game, they scored their chances, and they won the match. On our side we didn’t play well, comparing this match to our first match, we were a bit slow in our movement, our midfield didn’t click that much, and our defence again was caught in areas that we couldn’t defend well,” Akhulia told Pan-Africa Football.

“Overall performance, I think we didn’t play well today, it wasn’t a good match for us. We had lapses towards the end of the first half, it happened in our first match and it once again happened today. Every time we were moving forward, we lost concentration.

“Basically, I think there were moments we were supposed to rise in the match, but we let Tunisia take control of the match, and that was our biggest letdown. We let them take control of the game. The lapses towards the end of the first half cost us this match.”

The defeat leaves Kenya’s Rising Stars with slim hopes of qualifying from the group stage as they remain last with zero points from two matches. They face Nigeria in their final group stage match on Wednesday, May 7.