Harambee Stars head coach Benni Mccacrthy has heaped praise on Kenya’s performance especially in the second half despite the team losing 4-5 via post match penalties after 1-1 draw in regular time during the FIFA Friendly series semifinal clash on Friday at Amahoro Stadium,Kigali,Rwanda.
Tammel Tamik handed Estonia the lead after 15 minutes heading home the opener from a resultant corner.The result painted a picture of how pressured Kenya were in the first 45 minutes. Kenya however turned around the performance in the second period dominating their opponents to find an equalizer through Wollfsberger 2 forward Ryan Ogam. In the 51st minute.
‘’We started very lackluster but as the game went on, in the second half we started getting the momentum and I told the boys that we are not playing with desire that I know we can,we needed to have more movement off the ball and get in the spaces , when you want to receive the ball and get in positions where you will make them run and in the second half they will get tired and the space will open for us and in the second half we were by far the best team and we scored an equalizer.We could have won it especially with the chances that Lawrence Okoth and Mohammed Bajaber got in the game’’McCarthy remarked
Harambee Stars returned in the second half a better side, rejuvenated,played free flowing football and turned the heat on their opponent,Estonia.
‘’I learnt that my team has good character, good personality because in the first half we were a bit nervous but in the second half we showed that this is Africa,this our soil and as good as they were in the first half because it’s a team that has been together longer than we have been but in the second half my team completely dominated them.I am excited with that but I just have to have my team dominate from the opening minutes and maintain that through out the match’’McCarthy averred.
Harambee Stars captain Abud Omar rued the missed chances promising that the team will bounce back against Grenada.The Kenya Police Fc left back acknowledged that the side struggled in the first half but had to dig deep to get the result after the breather.
‘’In the first half we struggled to understand the opponents how they played and we analyzed them in the second half and had chances that if we had converted them we could have won.we had some new players in the squad it’s a bit difficult because we don’t know each other anf how they play but we still managed to get the result after correcting the mistakes’’
Kenya will be seeking to bounce back against Grenada who lost 0-4 to hosts Rwanda in the second semi final played Friday at Amahoro Stadium.Kenya will play Grenada on Monday at 6pm preceding the final between Rwanda and Estonia.
The 2026 FIFA Series is the second edition of the FIFA Series, an invitational association football tournament promoted by FIFA that features friendly matches between national teams from different continental confederations.
