Harambee Stars dream of back to back AFCON qualification was ended on Thursday March 25 after a 1-1 draw against Egypt.
The stars needed nothing short of a win to keep their hopes for qualification alive but they got off to the worst possible start as Egypt snatched the lead within the opening 120 seconds of the game.
The Pharaoh’s Mohamed Magdy Ashfa found the net with a neat finish inside two minutes to give Harambee Stars the difficult task of coming up with at least two goals against a star-studded Egyptian side.
Despite falling behind, the Stars picked themselves up and created chances of their own, with talisman Michael Olunga mostly being targeted by the forward balls.
The Al Duhail striker missed a superb chance midway through the first half as he latched onto a cross but put his effort well wide.
They eventually found the back of the net in the first half but the referee chopped off the goal for an apparent hand ball in the buildup.
Jacob Mulee’s side came out much stronger in the second half and deservedly levelled matters thanks to Hassan Abdallah, who stabbed home the ball for the goal after a melee in Egypt’s penalty area.
Hopes for a comeback were however dashed after Johnstone Omurwa was shown a straight red card for elbowing Mostafa Mohamed in an off-the-ball incident.
In the end, Kenya will blame themselves for woeful results in the earlier qualifier games as Egypt and Comoros secured their tickets to the AFCON which will be held in Cameroon.
