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The friendly meeting was the first between the two sides since they met five years ago in an Afcon tie.
Zambian coach Milutin Sredojevic regretted the loss to Kenya, stating that they deserved a draw if VAR (video assistant referee) were in place.
The visiting team Chipolopolo thought they had achieved a draw in the last minutes of the game but the goal was ruled out for not ‘closing the line’, something that the Serbian coach could not accept.
“If you ask me, that was a goal, a clear goal, because it closed the line, it was a last minute incident and I think that if we had the VAR it could have helped a lot, that was a clear goal,” said Sredojevic objective After the match,
By conceding two goals against a hard-fought Kenyan team, Sredojevic blamed his charges for his inability to defend counterattacks.
“Kenya is a good team and we knew they were going to bother us, but we also gave them too much space and we couldn’t defend counterattacks, it worked against us, we conceded goals that we should have defended if we had played as a team.”
For his part, Kenyan coach Francis Kimanzi praised his charges for an energetic effort in seeing them come out winners despite the majority of the players playing for the first time since football was stopped prematurely in the country in mid-1990. March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We played a very good first half, we controlled the game well and we faced them head-on,” Kimanzi said. objective. “But in the second period, our performance dropped, we didn’t play like we did in the first half, and that affected my players a lot.
“But overall, it was a good display from my players, most of them have been out in the cold for a long time, but they managed to get a win, it’s good for us and gives us the courage to fight again. in the next matches. “
A goal from Cliff Nyakeya and an own goal from Tandi Mwape gave Francis Kimanzi’s side the victory, while a late goal from Emmanuel Chabula denied the East Africans a clean sheet at home.
Kenya surprisingly started out as the hungriest and most dominant side and nearly scored the first goal in the ninth minute via Brian Mandela, whose effort was diverted despite being in good position to finish off with a goal.
Persistent pressure on the visitors earned Kenya a first goal in the 23rd minute, when Mwape turned the ball into his own net. The teams took a break to cool off after playing for nearly half an hour in the hot Nairobi weather.
Kings Kangwa and Sakala again failed to score for Zambia after blowing their chances in the 30th and 33rd minutes respectively.
Kenya doubled the lead in the 39th minute when FC Masr forward Nyakeya delivered a clinical goal that Sebastian Mwange had little chance of stopping.
Zambia arrived for the friendly seen as the strongest team that already faced Malawi on Wednesday and earned a 1-0 victory. Their players were also thought to be much fitter after having been in action in the previous months as opposed to the Kenyans, who had just trained for three days before the match.
The story also tipped Chipolopolo for the win, as the Harambee stars have mostly faltered when they encountered the Cosafa member.
The last time the two teams met, at Nyayo Stadium five years ago, they drew 1-1 in an Afcon tie.
Zambia will travel to South Africa for more friendlies against Bafana Bafana, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns. Kenya has yet to confirm if another meeting has been organized.
