A day after their thorough slaughter by the Teranga Lions of Senegal, the painful process of post-mortem has begun for Harambee Stars.
What went wrong? What could have been? Most importantly, who sanctioned the match?
Before their departure for Turkey, Harambee Stars assistant coach Vasili Manousakis admitted that they had not planned on playing Senegal in the latest round of international break.
Instead, it was a last minute change, which he conceded was a nice surprise to the technical bench, nonetheless.
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"It was a nice surprise for us...we don't know how or who's agreed to the fixture but we were discussing playing Comoros and Madagascar but I think things changed with the guys hosting the matches. Then we got Equatorial Guinea and then a little later...Senegal was added," Manousakis said.
The gaffer further clarified that the intention of the technical bench was always to play two matches during the current international break.
"We wanted to play two matches in this international window to give everyone a chance to play but like I said, we don't know how it has happened but we will look forward to test our boys against the best team, not only in Africa, but also in the world," Manousakis said during the interview at Kasarani Annex.
Harambee Stars suffered their worst ever defeat since independence, losing 8-0 to the 2021 African champions.
What began as an opportunity to sharpen the largely young squad with a taste of international football quickly dissipated into a massacre as the Senegal tore through Kenya's defence with ease.
It was like a pack of hungry wolves always ready to pounce on any mistake by their opponents, scoring six goals in a one-sided first half in which Benni McCarthy's men struggled to string more than two consecutive passes before losing possession.
The defeat followed Friday's 1-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea in the same city.
McCarthy has underlined his intentions to build a squad in time to become a formidable one at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), which Kenya will co-host with Uganda and Tanzania.
