NAIROBI, Kenya, May 20 – Rising Stars assistant coach Anthony AKhulia says the team’s experience at the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt has inspired them to try and conquer the East African region to ensure they constantly qualify for the tournament.
Rising Stars played at the tournament for the first time ever after finishing second in the CECAFA regional qualifiers, losing to Tanzania in the final.
In Cairo, the team picked up a point off a last day 2-2 draw with Nigeria, while they lost to Morocco and Tunisia. Speaking to Telecomasia.net, Akhulia believes they showed their worth in the tournament and should be qualifying constantly.
“The inspiration from just playing was immense. 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,” the tactician told Telecomasia.
He says their performances in Cairo showed the team’s worth and is optimistic if they qualify for a second time, they will do better than they did in their debut.
“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,” he added.
