Kenya coach Sebastien Migne laments shortage of key players in India

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Tuesday Jun 12, 2018. 14:00

After losing 2-0 to India, Kenya coach Sebastien Migne has lamented the lack of key players at the Hero Intercontinental Cup in India.

The Harambee Stars reached the final but lost 2-0 to the hosts at the Mumbai Arena on Sunday as they missed all Gor Mahia players and a few AFC Leopards players after their clubs held onto them for the SportPesa Super Cup.

Stars played four matches, losing two, both to India and bagged as many wins against Chinese Taipei and 2-1 against New Zealand.

Migne was impressed with the performance of the team and hopes they can continue to improve, especially ahead of September's 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Ghana in Nairobi.

"It was difficult at the beginning because without professionals, without the best local players and with only 20 players it was a difficult mission but not an impossible mission," Migne said to Capital FM.

"When you start a competition, the aim is always to do the best and try to reach the final. We achieved this but it was not easy to recover for the final after playing just two days before.

“I am happy with the players because we had several who were on their first cap and now I have some answer about them."

For their efforts, the East Africans will pocket Sh2.5 million (US$25000) for finishing second.