Kenya deserved to progress in U-20 AFCON – Amos Wanjala

Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation.

Kenya U20 national team captain Amos Wanjala believes the team deserved to progress to the next stage of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

According to Wanjala, who plays for Spanish fifth-tier side Athletic Club, Rising Stars should have qualified from their opening two matches, had they defended well in the two defeats. Kenya suffered a 3-2 defeat against Morocco before losing 2-1 against Tunisia.

Wanjala insists Kenya’s defending in the two matches was a huge letdown, denying them the opportunity to hold onto a lead whenever they had taken one. Against both Morocco and Tunisia, Kenya scored first.

“We have played two matches, which in my view, we deserved to win. But probably things didn’t happen as they were expected, and we have gone on to correct the mistakes. I think we have learnt a lot from the tournament, and would like to win the last game,” Wanjala told Pan-Africa Football.

“We have been conceding very easily, and I think we will show improvement in that area against Nigeria, and win the game. The two defeats have been disappointing for us as a team, we feel we needed to have gone far in this tournament, but we can’t change the results now.”

On his part, striker Lawrence Ouma, who scored in both matches against Morocco and Tunisia, said: “I did my part to score, but though our defending was not good enough, we needed to do it as a team, so [in defending], we failed ourselves a little bit.

“Against Nigeria, I will try my best to score. I will do everything to beat the Nigeria defence.vI know it will not be easy, but it is possible to achieve my target.”

In their final group game, Kenya will come up against a Nigerian side who need just one point to progress and could top the group with a win – provided the other Group C match between Morocco and Tunisia ends in a draw or a Tunisia victory.