Kenya's Rising Stars must beat Nigeria's Flying Eagles to end U20 AFCON on high – Akhulia

Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation.

Kenya U20 national team assistant coach Anthony Akhulia has vowed to sign off from the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations by beating Nigeria in their final Group B fixture at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo on Wednesday.

The East African nation lost their opening two matches – 3-2 against Morocco and 2-1 against Tunisia – ending their chance of making it to the quarter-finals stage.

However, they will come up against a Nigeria 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.

“In the last game, we want to try and come out with a win because we have played two matches, and we have not picked up a win. We have disappointed Kenyans, we have even disappointed ourselves,” Akhulia told Pan-Africa Football.

“It will be good, even if we are coming out of the tournament, at least we have something positive to take home, and that is winning the last game. And then, of course, we take away the lessons that we have learnt from the tournament.”

Akhulia continued: “We scored first in the last two matches, but like I had said previously, it was a must that we try and score in such matches. The only problem was that when the game is headed for the half-time break, we always have lapses in the defensive line and concede goals that I can call schoolboy mistakes.

“It is not mistakes that someone can commit at such a level, we have learnt. But again, we have learnt the hard way by conceding goals that we should have avoided.”

On whether the technical bench will make changes to the starting XI for the Nigeria game, Akhulia said: “Yes, we came here with a huge squad, and we have to give every player an opportunity to play, so it doesn’t look like he came to AFCON and never got the test of playing. We will try to give every player the opportunity, so that when they leave, they will have been tested and understand the weight of the tournament.”

Kenya lead Group B in shots on target with 11, while Nigeria have managed just seven – tied for the fewest with Tunisia.