Well done Kenya, better luck next time

Harambee Stars' Abdalla Hassan (right) dribbles past Egypt's Ahmed Ayman in their AFCON qualifier on Thursday at Kasarani Stadium. [Kelly Ayodi, Standard]

It is finally over for Kenya.

Kenya had officially bowed out of the tournament even before their match at Kasarani Stadium kicked off.

Joint-Group G leaders Comoros had held Togo to a barren draw. With that result, Harambee Stars had to beat Egypt in their second-last group match at Kasarani Stadium on Thursday. They did not. They only came close, drawing 1-1 against the Pharaohs.

It was not good enough for the Jacob Ghost Mulee boys. While Kenya will be battling with Togo in a mere formality tie in Lome on Monday, the Pharaohs will be hosting Comoros in a group winner decider encounter in Cairo the same day.

Kenya bottled their qualification chances way back in November when they donated four points to Comoros a few days after the sacking of their coach Francis Kimanzi.

Kimanzi was on a rebuilding process after replacing his former boss Sebastiane Migne in August last year and he was almost getting his preferred squad to finish off the campaign before all hell broke loose.

The effects were seen when Stars failed to beat 10-man Comoros in the first leg tie at Kasarani Stadium. This is a game they could, and should, have won easily.

In Thursday's match, it only took two minutes for Mohamed Magdi Kafsha to give the Pharaohs an early lead when the Al Ahly midfielder unleashed an unstoppable shot past Kenyan goalkeeper Ian Otieno following a dummy from Galatasary striker Mostafa Mohamed in the box.

Harambee Stars' players training ahead of the match. [Photo: Courtesy]

Hassan Abdallah later gave Kenyans some sense of hope when he ensured parity in the 65th minute as he shot from close range following a goalmouth melee off a Michael Olunga shot.

Olunga had earlier threatened in the fourth minute but the Harambee Stars captain feebly shot straight at goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawy before Mahmoud Hamdi intercepted a dangerous ball from the left flank for two fruitless corners in succession.

Olunga then missed a sitter from Eric Ouma’s brilliant delivery from the left flank in the 13th minute before Daniel Sakari forced a save from the Egyptian goalkeeper with a long throw-in as the hosts pushed for an equaliser.

Later, Joshua Onyango made a fantastic block to stop the Egyptian from doubling the lead before El-Shennawy pulled off a fine save to block Anthony Akumu’s long range shot.

Ouma almost scored directly from a corner kick in the 24th minute only for his effort to crash against the crossbar. This came moments after one of the Egyptian defenders almost scored an own goal while trying to clear Daniel Sakari’s long throw-in.

Masoud Juma thought he had restored parity for Stars in the 38th minute only for his goal to be disallowed for handball in the build-up.

Kenya were reduced to 10 men after Johnstone Omurwa was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident in the 75th minute.