Harambee headcoach coach Sebastien Migne has accepted that his players were afraid as they as they conceded a 2-0 defeat to North Africans, Algeria in their opening match on Sunday.
He has however urged them to show fighting spirit against Tanzania when the two sides clash in their second match of the tournment on Thursday.
The Stars conceded twice in the first-half minutes as Baghdad Bounedjah and Riyad Mahrez found the net in Airforce Defence Stadium to get Algeria’s Group C campaign off to a good start.
With this fresh in the mind, the coach is aware a positive result against Tanzania, who lost 2-0 to Senegal in their first group game is much needed if Stars are to maintain any hopes of progressing to the quarters.
“Everything is possible,” Migne told Goal. “We have played Tanzania before. We will try and defeat them and then play the ‘final’ against Senegal.
“What we need to change going forward is our fighting spirit. We were afraid against Algeria. We refused to play.
“We are a team that can learn quickly. I don’t know if it’s an advantage for us to play our neighbours Tanzania, but I will give you an answer after the game.”
With the neighbourhood of the two nations, the Thursday’s clash has been eagerly awaited by football fans from the two countries who all need a win for them to lengthen their stay in Egypt.
Star Tanzanian striker Mbwana Samatta who was totally shielded off against Senegal by Kalidou Kolibaly expects Tanzania to come to a standstill during the match and has every faith in the team’s coach Emmanuel Amunike to mastermind a victory.
“We’ve all been looking forward to this game for weeks. The streets in Tanzania will be empty. Everyone will be watching us,” Samatta is quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.
“A victory is the target of course. We can do that. Amunike will give us some tips and we will beat them.”
For Michael Olunga to function at his best, he will need good supply from his wingers, and 26-year-old Masika brings experience of European and Chinese club football to Kenya’s side, as well as a creative threat down the left flank.
Tanzania’s target man is Genk striker Samatta, but tucked in behind him will be Msuva, whose task it is to unlock the Kenya defence.
It will be the first time Kenya and Tanzania will be meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations with Kenya having won only seven per cent of their Africa Cup of Nations games the worst rate among the teams with at least 15 matches in the competition.
Their competitors, Tanzania are without a win in their four games in the Africa Cup of Nations conceding at least two goals in three of their four recent outings.
Differently, Kenya have failed to score in nine of their last 12 Africa Cup of Nations games.
The Emmanuel Amunike boys, Tanzania had three shots against Senegal on their day match day one but none of them was on target.
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