The Harambee Starlets will face Shepolopolo in the return leg on Monday after drawing 2-2 in Nairobi on Friday
The Harambee Starlets need mental strength and composure going into the second leg of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifier against Zambia, coach David Ouma has said.
Kenya were held to a 2-2 draw by Shepolopolo and now face an uphill task of trying to the turn tables in Lusaka on Monday. Ouma says the Starlets are capable of having better outing in the second leg in an attempt to qualify for Olympics for the first time ever.
“I am not worried because I believe we can play even better while away from home. The key thing we will need is composure and mental strength,” Ouma told reporters.
The coach further explained how the Kenyan girls ended up drawing despite going ahead twice at Kasarani.
“I think we tried to set up ourselves to avoid conceding at home but football dynamics are different. We also allowed Zambia to boss the wide areas and ended up punishing us from their crosses into the box,” he said.
“In the second half, we took some risk but we could have defended better than we actually did. Zambia have got good and physically built players and we allowed them to run directly to our defenders. This is what I want to work.”
On the other hand, Zambia’s coach Bruce Mwape said they did not get what they came for in the first leg.
“We played well and our aim was to go back home with a win but unfortunately the game ended in a draw,” Mwape said.
He also warned his players from celebrating their two away goals saying there is still something big to fight for.
“We cannot celebrate now as it is early because we still have another 90 minutes to play and we will only celebrate after the second match and not now,” Mwape concluded.
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