Jonah Ayunga urges Kenya to use their chances against Senegal

Kenya national team striker Jonah Ayunga has called on Harambee Stars to be clinical in front of the goal when they face Senegal in their second friendly in Turkey on Tuesday.

Harambee Stars lost their opening friendly in Antalya after going down 1-0 against Equatorial Guinea at the Emir Complex Stadium in Antalya, Turkey, on Friday. The outcome was not the performance Kenya put up in the game which they lost via a penalty.

Kenya dominated especially in the first half creating numerous chances which they were not able to convert. Ayunga, who was starting in place of Michael Olunga, missed a host of chances including a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Jesús Owono.

Kenya frustrated with Equatorial Guinea defeat

“We are frustrated with the result, obviously losing 1-0 to a penalty, I am not sure we haven’t seen back whether it was a pen or not, you know it looked 50-50 at the time,” said Ayunga as quoted by Flashscore.

“I think as a team defensively, we were quite good, they had a couple of shots, but other than that, the only real chance they had was obviously the penalty.”

Ayunga added: “For us (strikers), I think especially in the first half, we needed to make sure we take the chances, you know we created good opportunities, maybe the last part, the last finish was not right, but we made how many chances, I don’t know, but we made a lot.”

“We had a good game plan to sit deep and then when we recovered the ball we do transition quickly which we did, probably more in the first half, but in the second half they had a 1-0 lead so they dropped earlier to defend it.

“I think the game plan in the first half worked, but it is just down to us forwards to take the chances.”

Harambee Stars will return to action against Senegal on November 18th at the Mardan Sports Complex. The last time Kenya played against the Lions of Teranga was in 2019 during the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.