Afcon 2019: Kenya will have no pressure against Senegal – Sebastien Migne

Kenyan coach Sebastien Migne says Harambee Stars will not be under any pressure when they face Senegal in their final Group C match on Monday.

The Kenyan side revived their hopes of making it to the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations finals following a 3-2 win over East African neighbours Tanzania’s Taifa Stars on Thursday night.

However, Kenya will now come up against a wounded Senegalese side, who lost to Algeria by a solitary goal in their second match of the tournament and will also be in need of a win to stand a chance of making it to the last 16.

“Let me take pleasure in the victory [against Tanzania]. I didn’t see a lot of weakness for the Senegalese team, and even if I did see a small one, I wouldn’t tell you,” Migne told Goal in an interview after the Tanzania match.

“We have no pressure, it’s only pleasure, to be there, to play against number one in Africa, and to start the game in a good position.

“It will be at least a good experience for my players. We will learn, after you never know, when we played against Ghana in the qualifiers, it was the same, no one was able to bet on Kenya for the victory, it will be the same [against Senegal].

“No one will bet on my team, and if I lose it’s not so important. It’s to be there, to play for 95 minutes, because it’s important to be there at the end - even with three points.”

The French coach also confirmed that injured defenders Joash Onyango and Philemon Otieno could be fit to face The Lions of Teranga.

“Joash maybe will be better, Philemon [Otieno] also. Philemon was missing today. We have some injury, and we need to take care, with the medical staff,” Migne continued.

“We will take pleasure, but pleasure seriously, we will have a good dinner to recover the energy, the medical room after, the players won’t sleep in the next two hours, afterwards, we will think about Senegal.”