Kenya's Harambee Stars coach, Antoine Hey, has expressed confidence his team can pull off an upset against Nigeria, when the two teams clash in a World Cup tie on June 7 in Abuja.
The German tactician whose team dropped the ball at home in his opening game of the group is now boasting he would make his home flops to put behind them the shock of the opening match day loss to Tunisia in March and instead, transer the shock to Nigeria's Super Eagles in their next game.
He said: "I'm optimistic we can beat Nigeria, since they will be under pressure. We need four points to stay in the competition. We need to be serious and remain focused and get that winning spirit in the camp." The former Liberia handler blamed some "silly" mistakes in defence for Kenya's 2-1 loss to Tunisia in Nairobi.
"It's a learning process, but I believe that in defeat, we need to grow and correct those mistakes to avoid them recurring in our subsequent future matches," he said. As part of these corrections, Hey has left out top choice in goal, Noah Ayuko, for the games in June against Nigeria and Mozambique.
"I was not impressed by his performance and I believe on a good day, he could have saved one of the two goals. This time, I'm giving that chance to other players and see what they can offer," he said, revealing plans to invite goalkeepers Arnold Origi (Moss FK, Norway) and Willies Ochieng (IFK Mariehamn, Finland) to the team.
Kenya have also designed a committment form, which both players and clubs are mandated to sign to avoid the previous episode where Mathare United withdrew their players from national team camp on the eve of the match against Tunisia.
Source: This Day, Kenya
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