The “whipping boys” of the 2025 U20 Africa Cup of Nations tag is one that the Kenyan team is determined to shed when they face Nigeria in the final Group B match on Wednesday, 7 May, at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo. Follow our WhatsApp channel for more news The Kenya U20 team, popularly known as the Rising Stars, has lost two of their group stage matches, leaving them staring at the risk of kissing the tournament goodbye. The team has been frustrating to watch as they surrendered their lead to both Morocco and Tunisia in their opening matches and failed to sustain the explosive start up to the final whistle. ##NAJAVA_MECA_8900966##Failure to make the right decisions in critical moments of the two matches, coupled with the injuries to two key players, also contributed immensely to their winless start. The team lost their first-choice left-back, Telena Ochieng, to a knee knock less than three days before the start of the tournament, with first-choice goalkeeper Benard Jairo also picking up an injury in the first match. Stars launched their campaign with a 3-2 loss to Morocco on Thursday last week and were thrashed 3-1 by Tunisia on Sunday evening. Ahead of their clash against Nigeria, who are yet to concede a goal in the tournament, assistant coach Anthony Akhulia is not losing hope at all. U20 AFCON Diary: Cheap fuel in plenty as sanity reigns in Egyptian roadsAkhulia says he and the team are not interested in being remembered as the Kenyan representatives at the junior AFCON, who lost all their matches. “We cannot be the whipping boys of the tournament. We have to do things right and win our last game. We do not know what will happen in the other groups. In the unfortunate event that we are eliminated, it will be good for us to sign off with three points,” he said. To achieve his goal against the Flying Eagles, the tactician revealed that working on the repetitive mistakes, in training, will be his first step. U20 AFCON Diary: Bread goes for Ksh5 with Kenyan athletes more famous in EgyptLapses in concentration and simple defensive errors played a significant role in Kenya’s defeat to the two North African teams. “We have to review the match against Tunisia and work on the weaknesses. We have to get it right against Nigeria,” added the Bidco United coach.
