Kenya national team Harambee Stars blew their golden chance of automatically qualifying for the next round on Monday after losing to Senegal. Kenya was beaten 3-o by the West African team, a result that saw Kenya finish third in group C.
Senegal automatically qualified for the next round and will be battling Uganda to proceed to the quarter-finals while Kenya’s chance of qualifying for the round of 16 still hangs by a thread. So how can Kenya’s Harambee Stars qualify?
To make it to the round of 16, Kenya will have to pray that all competitors for the best four third-placed teams lose tonight so as to have the chance of setting history – indeed a nail-biting moment for the country.
According to 2019 AFCON new format, the top two teams in each group, along with the best four third-placed teams will advance to the knockout phase. To determine the best four third-placed teams, CAF considers the points and the goal difference.
As it stands, Kenya is the fourth in the best four third-placed teams pending Group E and F final matches. Harambee Stars will have to wait – with their calculators in tow – to find out if they’re booking their flights home on Tuesday night.
Here are the standings of group E and F before their final matches;
Tuesday’s determining fixtures; (Benin vs Cameroon), (Guinea-Bissau vs Ghana), (Angola vs Mali), (Mauritania vs Tunisia)
According to the standings, Kenya’s chance of qualifying will highly depend on Tuesday’s results and anything can happen in football.
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