Rising Stars coach Anthony Akhulia has broken down why he feels Kenya was one of the best teams at 2025 AFCON U20 despite exiting at the group stage.
Kenya U20 coach Anthony Akhulia believes there is a bright future for his team following what was witnessed at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations.
Akhulia oversaw Kenya’s first-ever AFCON U20 campaign that ended at the group stage after his team lost 3-2 to Morocco, 3-1 to Tunisia and ended with a 2-2 draw with Nigeria.
Kenya put in a gallant display and scored first in all three matches but defensive mistakes proved costly in what was a harsh learning experience for them.
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However, Akhulia is of the view that his team are so much better than their results in Egypt showed, expressing confidence in a great future for the side.
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09:14 - 20.05.2025
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“It was honestly a great experience. Maybe not the best performance and achievement that we would have wished for, but the blessing of just being there and competing was good for us,” Akhulia told Telecomasia.net.
Akhulia Provides Blueprint for Future Success
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“We were in a very difficult pool against teams which have been there before and even won the tournament and I think we gave our best. Should have been better because looking back, no team outplayed us. We just gave away cheap goals in all the matches.”
Akhulia blames basic defensive mistakes for their losses to Morocco and Tunisia and he already has a solution on how to solve their woes going forward and ensure Rising Stars regularly features at the continental tournament.
“I believe the best thing we can do as a start is to conquer the region first. This means we outplay Uganda and Tanzania and make sure every time we are there qualifying. If we can do this, then I think we will be in the AFCON regularly and we can go even further with a semi-final ticket being our next target,” he added.
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17:45 - 19.05.2025
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“Just playing there has shown us that we have talent and we only need to do the right things and prepare well. We had one friendly against Ghana, and we saw that against Nigeria, similar scenarios popped up. If we had played at least one friendly match against a North African opponent, I believe we would have been better prepared to handle Morocco and Tunisia.”
What Harsh Lessons Were Learnt by Rising Stars?
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The Bidco United tactician, however, admits he picked vital lessons from the tournament which will be crucial in improving performances going forward.
“The biggest lesson I think we picked is game management; we should be able to manage our games better. In two games, we were leading and we couldn’t sustain that. An example against Tunisia, the moment they got into the lead, they managed the game so well. That was our biggest undoing,” Akhulia further said.
“We kept rushing things even when we were on top and that ended up costly. In terms of football talent and game ability, I believe we matched up and were even better than all our opponents. But we really failed in managing the game. If we do so, I believe we are primed to have better performances and results will be different.”
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South Africa won the tournament following a 1-0 win over Kenya’s group opponents Morocco in the final on Sunday to claim their first-ever AFCON crown.